Ring Around the Wrong Neck
by fringeperson
Summary: In which Sirius gives his godson the Millenium Ring as a first birthday present, and it is the Thief King, not Lily, who saves Harry from Voldemort's curse that Halloween night. Yaoi and a slightly Super!Harry. Don't own.
1. Chapter 1

The Thief King of Ancient Egypt was a tanned man, tall, strong, with slate-grey eyes and hair bleached by the sun so thoroughly that it appeared almost white. His soul was trapped in the Millennium Ring.

Harry Potter of Godric's Hollow was a small baby, cheerful, active, with bright green eyes and hair that was blacker than the tar that covered the roads. On his first birthday, his godfather Sirius Black gave him the Millennium Ring, believing it to be an ancient protective talisman that would keep the child safe from the the ever-present threat that was Voldemort.

He was sort of right.

When Voldemort came, killing James and then Lily, before turning his wand to the toddler in his cot, the Thief King had been hanging around for three months already, and had grown somewhat attached to young Harry. In more ways than one.

Now, the thing you must know about the Killing Curse is that, to perform it correctly, the caster must feel _nothing_ in regards to the 'victim' of said curse. It was created for the purpose of killing livestock, and prevented those who couldn't stand killing animals from having to do so, as well as removing those who felt sick pleasure at the task. The thing which needs to be understood about Voldemort is this: while he was rather peeved with James Potter for having evaded death at his wand-point three times already, he _was_ able to push that to the side in order to dispassionately kill the man. The same went for Lily Potter, who had done the same thing and was begging before him to spare her child. The difficulty came when Voldemort looked into those bright green, _intelligent_ eyes of young Harry Potter, and felt _loathing_ for the child that had been prophesied to bring his downfall.

The Killing Curse would not work with that amount of emotion. An alternative would be required.

Voldemort had not known this about his so-called 'favourite curse' however, and was surprised when the curse failed him at that moment.

That moment was all that the Thief King needed to retaliate. Having heard the same words uttered to kill his little host's mother quite effectively, he was going to appropriately _punish_ this man for attempting to do the same to the child.

And punish him harshly at that.

The Thief King called on the power of the Millennium Ring, called to the shadows and the magic of same, and forced a game between himself and the interloper.

"Who are you?" Voldemort demanded harshly.

The Thief King smirked, and the cruelty of that expression was further emphasised by the scar that he had drawn himself over his right eye and cheek. "Bakura," he answered simply. "Play with me," he said, his smirk stretching maliciously as he laid out a game between them. "The rules are simple..."

Of course, Voldemort lost the moment he cheated, and the Thief King sent what was left of his soul to the Shadow Realm. And wasn't he just _pissed_ when he recognised the magic that the foul man had been using to fragment his soul and put off his own death. It was the same magic that had required the _death of his entire village_.

The Thief King watched over the infant from within the Ring once more, and watched as a large man scooped the child out of his cot. Bakura was ready to catch _this_ man in a Shadow Game as well, since he didn't recognise the large man, when a _much_ more familiar face appeared: Sirius Black, the man who had given the Ring to Harry.

"Hagrid, give him to me, I'm his godfather," Sirius said, reaching out for the babe.

Hagrid shifted Harry a little closer to his own chest. "I can' do tha', sorry Sirius. Dumbledore give me orders," the large man answered, though in a compassionate tone.

The Thief King watched, mildly amused, as Sirius grit his teeth, visibly became more angry – and distraught, as his blue eyes caught the site of his best friend, dead in the kitchen.

The eventual nod from Sirius was a reluctant one. "I should..." he trailed off, looking back at the body of James Potter. "Sort out everything here, I guess. Bury James and Lily. Make sure their valuables are properly secured. Where are you taking Harry anyway, Hagrid?" he asked, looking back to his godson.

"Dumbledore said Harry here should be with family," Hagrid answered.

"_I_ am family!" Sirius protested, getting some of the fight and the fire back in his eyes.

"Blood relations," Hagrid countered with a shake of his head. "James 'ad no family left, so it's Lily's."

Sirius was very nearly growling. He _was_ family. James' mum was a Black. His favourite great-aunt actually. Lily's only family left was Petunia Dursley, a spiteful, _muggle_ woman who had hated magic ever since Lily had gotten her Hogwarts letter. He _knew_ that wasn't a good place for Harry to be, and he'd _bet_ that Dumbledore knew it too.

There were _other_ people who were related to James in the same way of course – Bella, Andy and Cissy as well as his own baby brother Regulus, but Reg was still a bit young (not to mention missing a lot), and of his cousins, Sirius would only trust Andy with Harry. Then again, there were _other_ options as well. Arthur Weasley was a Black as well – his mother was Credella Black. There were also the Longbottom's, though it was a little more distant since it was Frank's grandmother on his dad's side who was Callidora Black. Still, Sirius had a closer relation to James by blood, by friendship, and by _being Harry's Godfather dammit!_ So why the _hell_ was Harry being sent to _Petunia Dursley_?

"And he's to stay there I suppose?" Sirius asked lowly, fighting back his anger.

Hagrid nodded. "Tha's what Dumbledore said," he agreed. "Now don' you worry, Sirius. Harry'll be jes fine, an' I'm sure you'll get ta see 'im when he gets 'is Hogwarts letter."

Sirius nodded absently, not really believing it as he just kept his eyes on Harry.

The Thief King gently brushed his fingers over Harry's forehead, ruffling fine black hair in a way no breeze would.

Sirius saw it.

Hagrid didn't.

"Let me say goodbye?" Sirius asked, arms out for Harry.

Hagrid sighed, but gently set Harry in Sirius' arms before laying a hand on the man's shoulder in an offer of comfort and support – as well as making sure that the man didn't apparate out with the boy. He had orders from Dumbledore after all.

Sirius bent over Harry and kissed his forehead gently, one hand stroking the Millennium Ring that he could feel, still hanging around Harry's neck, beneath his all-in-one. Then his nose twitched.

"Hagrid? I think Harry's nappy needs to be changed before you take him to Dumbledore," Sirius said, looking up at the larger man.

Hagrid paled under his bushy beard.

Sirius chuckled. "I know. Lily made sure we _all_ knew how to do it right, so I'll do it if you like."

Hagrid nodded and gestured for Sirius to lead the way back to the nursery, where Harry's cot, toys, and most importantly at this moment, _changing table_ all were. Once they were there, Hagrid waited by the door rather than following Sirius in.

"Lily's sister isn't nice, and her husband is worse, but I'm sure you'll be just fine," Sirius said softly, brushing his finger's over the Millennium Ring as he spoke. "Since you won't be alone," he added in an even lower whisper. "I'll sort out everything here, probably put it all into a vault at Gringotts. The goblins may not want to _tell_ you about your fortune when you get bigger, but they always answer questions honestly, which is more than most people will do without veritaserum being involved."

Sirius had finished taking off the old nappy and cleaning Harry, and with a flick of his wand had a number of items flying to him from around the room. A clean nappy, a fresh (_warmer_) all-in-one, a thick blanket, Harry's travel-seat that sometimes James attached to his broom or sometimes Lily attached to a stroller-frame, the soft brown dog that had been a birthday present from Remus, and a number of small odds and ends that Harry really ought to keep with him – the key to Potter Vaults and the signet ring that denoted Harry as Lord and Head of the family (greatly reduced as it now was) among them.

"It seems to me that there's more to that Ring than I thought," Sirius said as he wrapped the tired boy up in his blanket and tucked him into his travel-seat. "So if I hide these important things inside of Happy here," he said, meaning the stuffed animal, "do you suppose that whatever is looking after you will remember, and tell you when you're old enough to understand?"

The Thief King chuckled. "I'll do that," he answered, whispering in Sirius' ear. "Don't you worry. I'll take _good_ care of my little Light."

Sirius relaxed minutely, nodding as he bent to kiss Harry's forehead one last time before tucking Happy (and his hidden contents) into the blanket and basket with Harry, and very reluctantly handing him over to Hagrid.

It didn't take long for the Thief King to decide that he _really_ didn't like riding the Knight Bus, which was Hagrid's chosen mode of transportation from Godric's Hollow to Surrey.

He also decided, very quickly, that he didn't much like the wizard with the long white beard and a sense of fashion that leant towards something that could be best described as rainbow-coloured moth-leavings. And by moth-leavings, he meant something that even the moths wouldn't go near for fear of indigestion.

No, the Thief King held absent-minded contempt for the man known as Dumbledore. Until he just _left_ Harry on the doorstep of one of the houses with only a letter. _Then_ he decided that he would send him to the Shadow Realm at the very first opportunity that presented itself.

The woman who had been there as well, McGonagall, was almost as bad. She objected to what Dumbledore was doing, and then didn't suit actions to words.

Hagrid had simply handed over Harry and left, and so, for this at least, would not be held accountable. He would be remembered though, and not entirely fondly.

~oOo~


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter was ten years old, and despite the Dursley's best efforts he was a healthy young boy, well-liked around the neighbourhood, a star student at the local primary school, and in possession of a firm belief in the supernatural. The Thief King had scared Petunia into caring for Harry when he was too young to open the refrigerator or deal with his own bodily waste, and terrorized Vernon _out_ of his penchant for beating people who he (usually incorrectly) felt had wronged him. When Harry _was_ able to get into not only the pantry but the refrigerator as well, the Thief King helped the boy get out of his locked cupboard of a night and take as much food as he had been forbidden during the day. There was also the issue of making sure Petunia _never_ put Harry into Dudley's second-hand clothing and swift revenge against Marge Dursley and her 'prize' bulldog, an ugly brute of a thing called Ripper – that she had _encouraged_ to take a bite out of Harry the first time she had visited.

He also helped Harry steal money from Vernon's wallet and used that money to buy some hauntingly familiar cards from the nearest game shop as soon as they became available. Harry bought enough packs of cards to form several decks, and in fact _did_ form more than one decks. One for him, one for the Thief King. Oh yes, he knew the spirit was there. After a few conversations, he knew that the intimidating spectre was looking out for him as well. Still, the deck that the spirit wanted to build wasn't quite the sort that Harry personally felt entirely comfortable with. Oh, it wasn't the occult aspect. Harry was fine with those cards and had several of the same cards in his own deck as the Thief King had requested for his. It was more about being limited to only one _type_. The Thief King was picky. Harry never tossed any of the cards he bought, even if he already had five Kuribo for example, there was always room for another one.

Sometimes, while teaching Harry how to call on the Shadow Magic with his deck, the Thief King actually despaired over how large the boy's deck was. After all, with the larger deck, there was a greater chance of _not_ getting that _one_ card you needed that would probably be somewhere deep in the middle. On the other hand, it provided more options. Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other.

Then the letter came.

It was addressed to "Harry Potter, Cupboard Under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey", and both Harry and the Thief King thought it very interesting that the addressee knew which _room_ in the house was Harry's designated space. Actually, the cupboard suited Harry fine in general. He was only a kid yet, so he didn't need a lot of space for sleeping in, and his only worldly possessions – apart from his clothes – were his cards. He didn't _need_ a lot of space yet. He only slept there after all.

Having strangers know about it didn't sit well with him though, or with the Thief King. No, it didn't sit well with them at all. There was nothing to be done about _that_ however, and the missive requested a response.

"Don't bother," the Thief King advised. "It doesn't look like they teach any subjects that _aren't_ magical at this place. Buy books, buy the supplies, but don't bother going. This _is_ our opportunity to get away though."

Harry smiled a little at this, and nodded agreement.

A quick letter was sent off and Harry went to Diagon Alley the next day, though it was the Thief King who took charge of their body for the outing – after terrifying Petunia into taking them to the correct area, of course.

~oOo~

Bakura was very intelligent in general, and surprisingly modern-adept for such an ancient spirit. He'd helped Harry set up his first bank account, in Switzerland, _years_ ago. Now, they would be sending pretty much _all_ of Harry's vast wealth to that same account – which had better interest rates than the goblin bank, and an entire nation dedicated to the security of that bank. No dragons, but who would suspect a wizard of keeping his money in a muggle bank account? Of course, that was just for the monetary aspect. The _real_ valuables would be kept in the Shadow Realm, guarded by a loyal monster until such a time as the item in question was either wanted or needed.

In the bowels of Gringotts, boy and spirit sorted through all the belongings that Sirius had stashed there for them. Trinkets, trifles, gems, jewels, magical artefacts, furniture and property deeds were there in abundance and almost-tidy piles.

"What happened to Mr Black after he brought everything here?" Harry asked his goblin guide politely.

"Imprisoned," the goblin answered shortly.

The Thief King frowned. Now, why had that happened? Of course, he asked, taking over Harry's body to do so.

"Voldemort supporter, murdered several muggles and the wizard Peter Pettigrew, betrayer," the goblin listed dispassionately and with a shrug, not noticing the shift in the young wizard beside him.

"Somehow I doubt it," the Thief King said with a scowl. "After all, what kind of man would be all those things, and _also_ make sure that all the Potter's property was safely locked away in the vault and leave the key with _me_, rather than keeping it for himself? Was veritaserum -" he remembered _that_ word from Black's little whispering very well "- used in his trial?"

The goblin shrugged. "Don't know," he answered.

This time, he growled, mentally adding 'get a lawyer to look into Black's case' to his to-do list before he stalked into the large vault and towards the stack of papers that listed and registered ownership of various properties to the Potter family.

"Getting the hell _out_ of England," the Thief King grumbled through his teeth as he scanned page after page of information.

"Duel Monsters is biggest in Japan," Harry commented softly from within the shared space of their mind. "I'd like to duel someone _else_ I think."

The Thief King smirked a little. "Yes, some variety would be good," he agreed. He couldn't be Harry's _only_ opponent _forever_ after all. Unfortunately, the only property held by the Potters in Japan was a kirin sanctuary. They couldn't _live_ there. They'd have to go house-hunting if they wanted to move to Japan.

The Thief King set the pile of papers down with a huff and grabbed up a large pile of gold into a bag so they could get some shopping done in Diagon Alley – and Knockturn too of course.

In total, Harry and the Thief King stayed at the Leaky Cauldron for a week checking things off their to-do list before catching a flight to a city in Japan called Domino. There, they stayed in a cheap motel while inspecting various properties, ultimately buying a house that was slightly smaller than the Dursley's house back in England had been. Room to invite people over if Harry made friends, but not so much room that it would be all that much of a chore to keep it clean.

More to the point, it was near to the local magical shopping district and evening cram-school. Japanese witches and wizards, it seemed, went to regular school during the day, and took their magical studies in the evenings. This was something which the Thief King, rather haughtily, approved of.

~oOo~

"Wake up Landlord!" the Thief King yelled into Harry's sleeping mind. "It's your birthday!"

Harry chuckled tiredly as he rolled over and out of his bed. "No it isn't Bakura," he answered, a smile on his face as he pushed himself up and made his way to the shower. "Though I appreciate the joke."

Actually, it was the first day of his high school career. They'd been in Japan for four years now, and Harry was fifteen. The school system in Domino was a bit... different to what Harry would have experienced back in England. There was elementary school, which lasted until a person was ten, then middle school for those eleven to fourteen, and then high school began at fifteen and went until the student was seventeen. At eighteen, students could leave school to work full time, or they could go on to higher education, maybe working part-time.

Of course, if he'd stayed in the UK and gone to Hogwarts, Harry's normal education would still be that of an elementary student, and his magical education would be... well, when the teachers in Domino found out he'd narrowly avoided a Hogwarts education they'd congratulated him on escaping from a backwards education and stagnant culture.

Harry was out the door in less than an hour and on his bike to school. It was the closest he could get to flying while in a non-magical area. Some Sundays – the only day he had completely free of school – he went out to the Potter Kirin Sanctuary and flew with the majestic animals. It was quite the experience, whether he was racing the mature males across the sky or flying slowly as the females taught their young how to take their first steps off the ground.

They were odd creatures, sort of a cross between a dragon and a unicorn, and able to fly without wings. Still, they were beautiful when grown, and adorable when small. Apparently also able to recognise a true ruler, and able to bow only to such a person. They were good conversationalists too, when they were in the mood for it. Couldn't stand the smell of blood though, it made them faint. At least they didn't discriminate on gender like the European unicorn.

All the same, Harry used the bike for the streets through Domino city.

"Please take a seat," the teacher called as he entered the room. "Wherever you sit will be your seat for the rest of the term. Since this is your first day at Domino High, and because a number of you have come from different middle schools, let's have a short introduction around the room. Your name, and a like or hobby will do."

Harry was interested to hear what his classmates had to say. There was Muto Yugi who liked games, Mazaki Anzu who liked dancing, Katsuya Jounouchi who's hobby (if it could be called that) was entering competitions, Hiroto Honda who claimed _his_ hobby was keeping Jounouchi out of trouble, Nosaka Miho who liked cute things, a great many others, and then it was _his_ turn.

"I am Shokunin Hiei, the kanji for my name means 'artisan' and 'flying shadow'. I like living in Domino City," Harry said. Of course he'd changed his name when he came to Japan. If so many Asian students took on Western names when they travelled to English-speaking countries, then really, it made sense that he would do likewise. It also meant the other kids wouldn't have any problems with pronouncing his name. Name butchery was a common problem between languages.

After him, Bakura Ryou liked archaeology (and Harry was interested to learn that someone else had the same name as the spirit of the Ring), and Kaiba Seto liked the game Duel Monsters, and more names continued on afterwards.

~oOo~


	3. Chapter 3

"Maybe I can even get my grandpa to show us this super rare card he's got," Yugi's voice carried across the room from where he was teaching Jounouchi how to play Duel Monsters. And trouncing him at it of course.

"Think they'd mind if _we_ tagged along?" Harry asked his neighbour quietly, not looking up from the book he was reading.

"What makes you think I'd be _interested_?" Kaiba returned sharply. "In them, _or_ your company?"

Harry chuckled. He'd determined to work on the prickly Kaiba Seto back on their first day, and it was slow going.

"You're _always_ interested in rare cards," Harry answered easily. "You won't be satisfied until you know for sure just what card it is they're talking about. Probably try and convince them to part with it too, if it's one that you want."

They _did_ follow Yugi, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu to the Kame Game Shop after school. Separately, since Kaiba was adamant that he didn't care for even the appearance of friendship, but Harry was close behind on his bike and arrived at the door of the shop not long after Kaiba had.

"So parting with this card is simply out of the question," the old man was saying.

"Ooh," the Thief King commented within Harry's mind. "That will have set the rich boy off. He doesn't like hearing people tell him 'no'."

It didn't take long for their emotional-attachment talk to drive Kaiba out of the shop in disgust, and Harry stepped aside quickly to let the other boy past before properly walking into the game shop himself.

"Can I help you?" the old man asked politely.

"Other way around I think," Harry answered, even as he took a few bumper packs of Duel Monster cards off the shelves. Okay, so he _had_ a lot of cards already, enough that he'd long since divided his _one_ deck into _several_, but there was always a bit of a thrill to see what cards would come from the randomly packaged boxes and cellophane pouches. "Kaiba doesn't _take_ 'no' for an answer, and he's got a _thing_ for dragons, particularly that one."

"Shokunin-san?" Anzu queried. "What are you getting at?"

"And why are you tellin' us? Aren't you buddies with that bastard Kaiba?" Jounouchi demanded.

"_Don't_ talk about his parentage," Harry said sharply, cutting his bright green eyes across to the blonde boy before answering Anzu. "And what I'm getting at is that card," Harry said, pointing to where the old man was still holding the box to his chest. "Industrial Illusions made _four_ of that card in the whole world, right?"

The assembled kids and old man all nodded.

"Kaiba is somewhat famous on the INDC -"

"The what?" Honda asked, interrupting.

"Inter-National Duelling Circuit," Harry explained. "Even the best don't like going against Kaiba. His deck when Duelling isn't _large_, but it _is_ powerful."

"What do you mean by all this, Shokunin-san?" Yugi asked.

Harry pointed again to the box that held the Blue Eyes. "Kaiba is only _one_ away from a full set," he stated, perhaps a little dramatically, but it brought the message home. "And you saw all the _other_ cards he had in that briefcase," he added as he counted out the cash to pay for his purchase.

"You mean to tell me that Kaiba has _three_ Blue Eyes White Dragons?" Jounouchi demanded, loudly, as Harry slipped the packs into his bag.

"That's right," Harry agreed pleasantly as he turned to go. "He won't be at school tomorrow either, if I know anything about him. Watch yourself old man," he threw back with a wave, not turning to look at them as he exited the shop.

Just as predicted, Kaiba Seto wasn't in class the next day.

"You're comin' with _us_," Honda insisted once the school day had ended, laying a hand on Harry's shoulder and glowering as menacingly as he could.

Harry shrugged and brushed the hand off his shoulder, but did as he was bid. Just this once. Really, for him it was a way to get in and keep an eye on Seto.

They reached the game shop in time to get a phone call, and then raced to the Kaiba Building. The elevator ride was long, and the air was heavy with tension. It wasn't at all helped by the sight of old man Muto collapsed on the floor.

"Grandpa!" Yugi yelled, running over to him. "Grandpa, are you okay?"

"Yugi, I failed," the old man said weakly. "I wanted to teach that boy Kaiba a lesson about the heart of the cards, but I lost."

To Harry, it looked like the old man had suffered a mild heart-attack or something. He was _not_ looking good.

"How's the old man feeling?" Kaiba asked from a different doorway.

"Kaiba you sleaze! What have you done to him?" Jounouchi demanded.

"We had a Duel, that's all," Kaiba answered, smirk firmly in place. "With each of us putting up our most valuable cards as the prize," he added, and the smirk grew just a little wider. "I guess playing against a champ like myself was just too much -" he chuckled over the next word "- _stimulation_ for the old fool," he said with a casual shrug.

Anzu, in all her righteous female fury, point the finger. "Kaiba! You should be ashamed of yourself!" she shouted.

"It was fair," Kaiba answered easily. "And look," he continued, pulling out a card from his pocket, "at the prize I won."

"Ooh, don't mind if I do," Harry said, plucking the card from Seto's fingers even as the other boy moved to tear it in half. "Very fine dragon. So now you've got all four?" he asked with a smile, holding the card behind his back.

Kaiba frowned. "Shokunin," he growled.

"Gimme a kiss and I'll give it back," Harry teased, pouting his lips a little bit.

"Ew! Gross man!" Jounouchi gagged quietly from behind them. "You're into guys? I'm never changing for sports in the same locker room as you again!"

"Shokunin! You can't do that! That's not even _his_!" Anzu yelled, skipping over the same-sex implication entirely. It was possible she just didn't _get_ it, and probably hadn't heard Jounouchi's comments either.

"I know," Harry answered the girl easily, not taking his eyes off of Kaiba. "But I also know that Seto won't kiss me either. Mokuba _might_ give me a peck on the cheek, maybe, if I asked _very_ nicely, but not Seto."

"Yugi," the old man wheezed, holding out his deck of cards with a shaking hand. "Take my deck, and teach Kaiba about respect, about the heart of the cards."

"We've spent too much time talking already Grandpa, we've got to get you to a doctor!" Yugi objected.

"Sounds like an excuse," Kaiba countered. "Your friends can take him while we Duel. Unless you're scared?"

Harry tuned out the argument and resolutions as he tucked the card into his pocket.

"I'm so proud," the Thief King said fondly within Harry's mind. "It's not _much_ of a theft, but with all these kids looking on? Very nice."

Harry fought against chuckling out loud as he followed Kaiba and Muto into the virtual stadium where the Duel would be taking place. Then something happened.

"Well, this is _interesting_," the Thief King mused, looking around as Harry walked over to where Mokuba was watching his brother Duel.

"No it isn't," Harry answered silently. "You've known Muto-san's Puzzle was part of the same set our Ring is from since the moment you saw it. It's just a little Shadow Magic being wrought by the soul that is attached to it."

"No, what's _interesting_ is that I _recognise_ that soul. Never got the chance to inspect it before, but I'd know the bastard anywhere. It's the bloody _Pharaoh_, Landlord. Mr High-and-Mighty, Never-Loses himself. Bah! Not that he's out properly yet. Must have lost some of himself from thousands of years in _pieces_ because the Puzzle wasn't assembled," the Thief King grouched. He'd gotten over a lot of his animosity against the Pharaoh in his time with Harry, but there would probably always be _some_.

Harry sighed and took a seat near where Mokuba was hanging onto the rail as he watched. Watched Kaiba _lose_ for the first time in what was likely a _very_ long time.

"It can't be!" Mokuba said in quiet disbelief. "My brother _never_ loses!"

"But how -?" Kaiba was demanding from his place above the holographic stage.

"Kaiba, if you really want to know, _open your mind_!" Yugi said, making a motion with his hand much as the Dark Magician had shortly before.

"Well that's not good," Harry said, green eyes wide as he watched Seto collapse.

"There Kaiba. Maybe _now_ you will begin to see," Yugi said, and turned then to leave, the magic of the Puzzle leaving him as he walked, returning the boy to his usual self.

Harry and Mokuba both raced up to check on Seto.

"Seto! Seto answer me!" Mokuba cried, shaking his big brother's shoulders gently but desperately.

"Hold him still Mokuba," Harry ordered softly. "Hold him still and hold him tight."

"Hiei-san? Can you do something to help?" Mokuba asked, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.

Harry lay a hand on Mokuba's head. "Not on my own," he said with a gentle smile. "I'm going to need your help. Seto doesn't _like_ me enough to respond to _my_ voice after all."

"I'll do whatever I can!" Mokuba insisted.

Harry nodded. "This could be a bit scary," he warned. "Just hold tight to me and Seto, okay?"

"Okay!"

It was tough going. They had to search the Shadow Realm for Seto, and for all the not-so-nice bits that Yugi had rather violently stripped from the boy, and sort the boy out so that he would be whole _and_ improved when he came back to himself.

Stripping a businessman of his ruthlessness wasn't going to be good for him after all. He _needed_ that. Just perhaps not as extreme as it had been. As for the remnant pieces that were ultimately rejected, the Thief King made sure that they in no way resembled anything relating back to Kaiba. No one would be taking advantage of the boy.

"You might be taking your next Duel in a wheelchair," Harry said as he and Mokuba helped Seto sit up. "But that weakness you feel will pass. The point is you _will_ be able to Duel again. Left untended, what Yugi did could have had you out of the Tournament through nothing more than losing your self-confidence."

"Huh? Shokunin? What happened?" asked Kaiba, frowning in confusion.

"Sleep on it, it will come back to you, but you owe me _big_ Kaiba Seto," Harry said firmly, though he was smiling a little as well.

"Thank you, Hiei-san, for helping," Mokuba said.

Harry's smile softened, and he reached over to mess the kid's already messy hair. "You're welcome," he said, then pushed himself off the ground where they had all been sitting. "Well, I've got to go. Make sure he eats, okay Mokuba?"

Mokuba nodded.

"Mokuba?" Seto said quietly.

"I was so _worried _about you!" the boy cried, wrapping his arms around his big brother and burying his face in the older boy's chest to hide his tears.

~oOo~


	4. Chapter 4

For a while, things were normal. Seto competed in the National Games, Jounouchi lost every Duel that took place in the classroom – even against Miho – and Harry went to his cram-school in the evenings. Jounouchi started taking lessons in how to play Duel Monsters from Yugi's grandfather (who Harry _finally_ learned was called Sugoroku), and the National Games came to an end with Seto winning against a boy who called himself Insecuta Haga. At least, Harry _hoped_ the boy had picked that name himself. Imagine having that written on your birth certificate!

Actually, that last battle was rather closely fought. The kid was quite the strategist. Of course, Seto was better. The kid still got invited to participate in something called 'Duellist Kingdom', which would be happening on Pegasus' private island.

The announcement caused quite a tizzy in the classroom. Jounouchi was going because the prize money would pay for his little sister's medical bills. Yugi was going because Pegasus had apparently, somehow, kidnapped Sugoroku, or his soul, Harry wasn't exactly clear on any of the details of that. Anzu and Honda were going to sneak in so that they could cheer for their friends. Bakura Ryou was going, which surprised a few people when they found out he was invited. Seto was going, because he was the world champion. Even Harry was going, having put his favour with Seto to good use immediately so that _he_ could get an invitation as well.

Under normal circumstances, this would get in the way of his cram-school, but Harry wasn't normal and neither was his cram-school. He'd learned how to travel magically two years ago – that is, to apparate – though he was still having trouble with how to transform into an animal. Once he was on the island, he'd be able to pop back for cram-school in the evenings, sleep in his own bed, and then pop back in the mornings.

Like everybody else though, Harry would be travelling to the island on the cruise ship provided by Pegasus for the occasion.

On the ship, tensions were running high, and the trash-talk was spewing forth absolutely everywhere. To say _nothing_ of the egos.

"I don't know how you stand it," Harry said to Seto as he leant back over a lower rail of the ship.

"By avoiding them mostly," Seto answered. "That's not the issue right now though. _Pegasus_ has kidnapped Mokuba," he said with a scowl.

Harry frowned. "You _do_ know that's a set-up to get _more_ from you, right?" Harry probed. "If he's kidnapped your brother then he's probably going for a hostile takeover of Kaiba Corporation, emphasis on the _hostile_."

"I know," Seto answered through gritted teeth. "But I _can't_ leave Mokuba in trouble like that."

Harry lay a hand on Seto's shoulder. "Hey, I'll help," he promised. "I like Mokuba. I'd hate to see the cute brat get hurt at all."

Seto sighed and forced himself to relax a little, simultaneously raising his cold mask in readiness for the fierce battles ahead.. "If you can, _then_ I'll thank you, Shokunin," he said.

Harry lifted his hand and waved away the thanks that hadn't been given.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw five cards drifting down. Someone had either dropped them, which at this point was truly careless of them, or they'd been stolen by someone and thrown away, which was less careless and a lot more cruel. Silently, Harry summoned them to his waving hand, catching them as nonchalantly as possible.

"Catching cards on the wind?" Seto asked, eyebrow raised in scepticism.

Harry smiled his best, most practised, sincere smile. "Maybe I'm just lucky?" he offered, tucking the cards into one of the many pockets of his warm coat, only glancing at them as they went in. Seeing the face of Exodia on one of those five cards, Harry was willing to bet money that they'd been tossed over by a thief rather than carelessly dropped. Yugi was _much_ more careful with his deck than that.

"Very _lucky_," the Thief King agreed within the recesses of Harry's mind, chuckling quietly in delight at the excellent trick.

~oOo~

Seto had abandoned Harry's company as soon as they reached the island. Honestly, Harry had expected it, though he couldn't say he was entirely pleased. On the other hand, it meant that he wouldn't have issues with having to explain where he disappeared to come evening.

"Hey you!" a voice called out.

Harry turned. When people yell out 'hey you!', there is _always_ the possibility of that 'you' being one's own self. In this case, it _was_ him, as evidenced by the finger also being pointed in his direction. The person yelling at him was a kid. The one who ended up ranking third in the national games actually. Same mass of shaggy brown hair out the back, same tuft of lilac fringe hanging out the front underneath the same red-ish beanie.

"Uh... Dinosaur Ryuzaki, right?" Harry asked, fairly sure that was the kid's name. Actually, it had been mildly intimidating, how many of the Duellists at this thing looked like they were in middle school. Oh, there _were_ older kids around, but practically _no_ adults except for the unpleasant-looking security guys.

"Yeah, that's right," the kid agreed with a smirk, "and I challenge you to a Duel!"

Harry shrugged. "Okay," he answered. "Pick a number between one and ten."

Ryuzaki narrowed his eyes. "You've only got _two_ star-chips," he said.

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "No, no. Not star-chips. I'm letting you pick which collection you'll fight against," Harry answered, holding open his coat so that Ryuzaki could see the ten pockets that were all clearly loaded with cards. "Though of course you can nominate how many star-chips you want to put on the line as well," he added once it looked like Ryuzaki had gotten over his shock at how many cards Harry owned.

"All your star-chips," Ryuzaki insisted at once.

"And which deck do you want to face?" Harry asked again as the Duelling Arena rose from the field beside them. "A number between one and ten."

"Four," the boy answered eventually.

Harry nodded and withdrew the 'fourth' deck from its pocket, dropped his coat back into place, and headed for one of the Duelling Platforms, whistling and shuffling along the way, reminding himself which cards were in the deck that he was about to use.

The first monster that Ryuzaki sent out onto the field was his Two-Headed King Rex.

Harry had, of course, watched the tournaments between his regular school and cram-school, and recognised the monster as Ryuzaki's favourite – though by no means his toughest. It might have been during the regional championship, but he would have gotten his hands on more cards since then, particularly since he came _third_, rather than first or even second.

Harry's response was to hit hard, hit fast, and take two-hundred and sixty of Ryuzaki's life points in his first attack. An attack made by a Flame Swordsman that was enjoying the benefits of a Field Bonus just as much as the King Rex, as well as the fact that dinosaur cards were weak against fire attacks.

"What? How?" Ryuzaki demanded, shocked for a moment before he grit his teeth. "No! I _refuse_ to be taken out of the competition so early! I summon Sword Arm of Dragon! Show that Flame Swordsman how to _really_ wield a blade! Sword-tail Slash!"

It didn't work though. Ryuzaki's monster may have gotten the Field Bonus as well, bringing its attack points up to two-thousand, two-hundred and seventy five, but the Flame Swordsman was a full sixty-five points up. Sixty-five points which were detracted from Ryuzaki's score.

Harry placed a magic card on the field, bringing up his Flame Swordsman's attack points to two-thousand, four-hundred and twenty. Harry also put a _second_ Flame Swordsman, unadorned, into play. It wasn't like it was a rare card after all.

Ryuzaki continued to throw monsters at Harry until his life points were down to only eight-hundred – at which point Harry quietly set down a trap card.

"I am _most_ disappointed," Harry said quietly as he drew another card from the deck at his side. "To think, a brat like you got all the way to third spot like _this_? Tut-tut and for shame."

"I _won't_ be taken out of the competition so quickly! I _refuse_!" Ryuzaki yelled back as he drew a card of his own. He smirked when he saw it. "And _this_ card will guarantee that _you're_ the one sent packing rather than _me_! My supreme monster! A dragon of a different sort: the Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

It was an impressive beastie with an attack power of two-thousand four-hundred, and when he added a pair of impressive claws a-la magic card, it went all the way up to three-thousand flat. That was more than either of Harry's Flame Swordsmen were able to handle.

Ryuzaki hadn't noticed Harry putting down the trap card though, and sent his dragon to attack with extreme prejudice.

Poor thing got caught in a Spell-Binding Circle.

"Ya know," Harry said, speaking loudly enough to be heard by his opponent for the first time since agreeing to the Duel. "I think I'd prefer to take your dragon and _one_ of your star-chips, rather than both of your star-chips. You'll still have a chance that way after all, and I'd hate to see the third-ranked Duellist taken out of such a big competition so quickly," he offered, even as both of his Flame Swordsmen brought up their swords to strike down the impressive (but trapped) monster.

Ryuzaki groaned as his ultimate monster was defeated the _first_ time he'd ever gotten to bring it out onto the field. "You got a deal," he agreed.

"Nicely done Harry," the Thief King congratulated within Harry's mind as the green-eyed boy accepted his winnings from the boy. "Now you've got a Blue Eyes White Dragon, and a Red Eyes Black Dragon. What next? The Yellow Eyes Grey Dragon? Has that even been made?"

Harry chuckled as he slipped his new card into a random pocket. "If it hasn't, then I'll suggest it to Peggy when we meet him," he answered silently.

The Thief King was silent for a while as he contemplated that. Then...

"_Peggy_?"

Harry ignored the spirit's incredulous yelp and kept walking.

He casually worked his way around the island, letting his opponents dictate how many star-chips they would battle for, and when he won bringing it down by one in exchange for a nice card. In the instances where it was a Duellist with _only_ one star-chip, Harry didn't take their last chip when he won, even if they hadn't shown any particularly interesting cards, but rather sorting through their decks to find one. After all, he knew better than anybody that, sometimes, that card that could win the Duel just doesn't come up in time to do any good. It had been a serious problem for _him_ when _he_ was learning after all, before he'd divided his single deck into many.

As well as two star-chips, he took the Cocoon of Evolution from the bug-obsessed runner up from the regional championship, and Harry _really_ hoped his parents hadn't actually _named_ him Insecuta Haga. He claimed one star-chip and the Kraken from Kajiki Ryota, who had been _very_ surprised to learn that he wasn't the _only_ person out there with a lot of water-based cards. Finally, Harry claimed three star-chips from Kujaku Mai, in addition to her Mirror Wall card, since he didn't want to completely cripple her Duelling style by taking her Harpy Lady.

Besides, he managed to get a Harpy Lady from another Duellist in exchange for not taking their last star-chip. Other cards Harry 'won' in exchange for not taking a Duellist's final star-chip included such prizes as a Dark Magician, a Time Wizard, a bunch of different Swordsman-type cards, three Magical Hat cards, two polymerisation cards, and an absolutely _adorable_ (at least, the Thief King thought it was adorable) Morphing Jar.

Then it was time to call it a day on the island and head back to Domino for class. With only one star-chip left to get, and no losses yet even with all of his opponents choosing which of his decks they'd face, Harry was fairly confident that he'd be able to get that last chip and move onto the castle the next day without too much difficulty.

~oOo~


	5. Chapter 5

"Shokunin-kun?"

Harry looked over his shoulder to see who had called him.

"Ah, Tsukimura-chan," he answered in greeting and turned properly to speak to the young woman who was his classmate.

Tsukimura Hina was about a foot shorter than Harry, and wore her hair in a short bob-cut. It usually changed colour each week too, but through use of hair-dye, rather than the metamorphmagus gene that Harry only possessed enough of to never need a haircut.

"A bunch of the battles from Duellist Kingdom have all been on television, and some of them were of your Duels. I just wanted to say that I think you're a great Duellist," Tsukimura said earnestly, her dark eyes shining with sincerity.

"Are you going to listen to my advice and make a start on your fangirl collection yet Harry?" the Thief King asked, his tone dry, wry, and only mildly amused as it sounded between Harry's ears.

"Ah, thank you," Harry answered the girl while he did his best to ignore the Thief King's advice. Turning all of his fangirls into dolls and shutting them away in a box was a _very_ tempting prospect some days. He hadn't given in to temptation yet though, and he hoped that he wouldn't any time soon. He'd get in trouble if he was found out doing that sort of thing after all.

"Shokunin-san, a word please?" called one of the teachers.

"Of course Sensei," Harry agreed. "Excuse me," he said to Tsukimura quietly, bowing politely before walking away from her.

The teacher waved Harry into the staff room, where all of the teachers were gathered.

"Shokunin-san, we here all know your history, so we felt it pertinent to mention to you that the British have finally figured out where you are," one of the teachers said.

"It only took the idiots _five years_," the Thief King commented derisively within Harry's mind. "Do they want you to be scared now?"

"As well as this," another teacher added, "is news that _that terrorist_ is on the move again. For your safety, as well as the safety of the rest of the students in attendance here, we think it might be best for you to disappear for a while. Stop coming to the evening classes, at least bodily. The British have no idea how modern technology works, so you are free to continue your education with us online until the issue blows over or you graduate."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Thank you all for this warning," he said. "I shall heed your advice."

The teachers all nodded and Harry turned, recognising the dismissal of his person. He quickly checked that he was leaving nothing behind in the building and then apparated out to his home.

"So the pimple of a human I popped when you were little is back," the Thief King commented as Harry got a start on their evening meal. "Do _not_ tell me that this actually has you _concerned_," the spirit continued, his tone one of teasing.

"Oh no," Harry agreed. "There's a continent between him and me in both directions, and some rather impressive expanses of water as well. No, I'm not particularly worried about him. It just suddenly occurred to me to wonder if Mr Black ever got released from Azkaban."

The Thief King sighed in amused frustration. "Yes," he answered. "You got the letter four years ago. He's free, the real traitor is locked up, and there are lots of people who have been running around like plucked turkeys since you didn't show up at the school. Black has been running all the interference to keep the self-important big-wigs there off your back, on my request. We had a nice, long conversation via enchanted mirrors shortly after his release. He'll probably stay there with his werewolf friend though, rather than coming here and drawing more attention to you."

"Oh."

"Absent-minded Landlord."

~oOo~

"Shokunin-san? I didn't know you were taking part in Duellists Kingdom too."

Harry smiled, hanging his head when he heard that voice. "Hello Ryou-san," he answered, then looked over his shoulder to the white-haired boy. "And yes, I am. How was your night?" he asked, wondering how bad it would have been. After all, _he_ had gone home and slept in his own bed.

"It was _terrible_!" quipped Jounouchi as he walked out of the bushes behind Ryou.

Honda, Anzu and Yugi followed him out as well.

"The ground was hard, the grass was wet, and Yugi got into a duel with this psycho eliminator guy called Panik so that another Duellist who shared her food with us didn't get kicked off the island. It was all _nuts_ man!" the blonde ranted briefly. "Kaiba showed up and trash-talked, and I'm _still_ hungry!"

Harry couldn't help but laugh at them.

"Oh by the way, how are you going for star-chips?" Ryou asked.

Harry smiled. "I've only got to get one more," he answered, showing his glove off. "I _could_ have all the chips I need, but when I'm Duelling a kid who's only got _one_ left, I offer to take a card from their deck instead, lets them keep trying for a little longer."

"Wow, that's really nice of you Shokunin," Yugi said with a smile.

"Have you gotten _many_ cards that way?" Honda asked.

Harry smiled and held open his coat for the friendship squad to see his collection of decks. "I only had ten decks when we landed," he said. "As you can see, there are now eleven."

"You've got a _lot_ of cards," Jounouchi observed, stunned.

"You've fought _that many_ Duellists who were down to just one chip?" Anzu asked, shocked.

Harry shook his head. "Oh no, I've taken a card from every Duel," he answered. "For example, my first Duel, the kid demanded two star-chips be put on the line, but when I won, I took only _one_ of his star-chips – and a card. Like that, see?"

"It's starting to sound less nice," Yugi said softly, an expression of consternation on his face.

Harry chuckled. "I make the offer, it's up to them to decide which is more important to them. A card or a star-chip. So far, star-chips are coming out as more valuable to all of my opponents, which I think is a shame."

"Well, it _is_ a pretty serious prize," Jounouchi pointed out. "If it were between me losing just _one_ card from my deck, and losing my shot at the prize money, I'd probably part with the card."

Harry's bright green eyes dulled as he looked at the blonde. "A reliable card, and sometimes I get a rare one from my opponents, so it's _valuable_ as well, against an unreliable win? Does ephemeral money mean that much to you?" he asked, mildly disgusted.

Jounouchi shook his head. "It's not that," he said. "I need the money to pay for my little sister's surgery, or she's gonna spend the rest of her life blind. She's countin' on me."

"Well, that's a better reason than winning prize money so that you can live the high life," Harry said, his smile coming back.

"You Duelled Kujaku Mai too?" Jounouchi asked, amused.

Harry nodded. "I got three of her star-chips yesterday," he answered.

Anzu smirked, but it wasn't a friendly smirk. "And which card? You said you'd gotten cards from _all_ of your Duels."

Harry smiled. "Not telling!" he chirped happily.

Just then, Jounouchi shuddered.

"I _swear_ we're bein' stalked," he muttered.

"You're being _paranoid_," Anzy scolded, though not without feeling.

"He's been twitchy since he woke up this morning," Honda explained to Harry before turning to his friend. "What the heck is eating you anyway?" he asked.

"I'm _tellin'_ ya, someone is _stalkin'_ us!" Jounouchi said before running off.

"Where are you going?" Yugi called after him.

"To stalk them!" Jounouchi called back over his shoulder.

"If we wait here, he'll know where to come back to. If he isn't back within the hour, we can probably assume he's been strong-armed into a Duel," Harry said, and moved over to a convenient rock to sit down on, slinging his small back-pack off of his back. "So, I've got apples, oranges, pears and peaches, as well as a packet of biscuits," he offered, and smiled when he heard their stomachs gurgle in empty anticipation of food. Even if it wasn't junk food like they would have liked. Burgers don't travel well in back-packs after all.

Jounouchi _wasn't_ back within the hour, and Harry pointed them in the direction of the nearest Duelling arena. Of course, it was one that he wanted to see for himself as well, so he went with them.

"Why are there coffins here?" Ryou asked as he walked up to one of two that were just a short way inside the cave.

"I don't know, but I don't like it," Yugi answered.

"Be careful," Honda added.

"Don't be silly!" Anzu said, approaching the other coffin. "It's just a wooden box..."

Except that the coffins straightened up and opened, dropping rather unpleasant-looking skeletons on top of both Anzu and Ryou. The way they panicked was rather comical actually. As was the very serious attack launched by Honda and Yugi both to save their friends from the dusty, dirty, _fake_ bones.

"That Pegasus has sure got a sick sense of humour."

"You said it Honda," Yugi answered.

Harry shrugged. "Ah, Peggy just has too much time and money on his hands," he said with a despairing shake of his head. Then he noticed the weird looks he was getting from them all. "What?" he asked.

"_Peggy_?" they all demanded.

"Are you on... familiar terms with Pegasus?" Yugi asked, a concerned, worried look on his face.

Harry blinked. "Uh, no?" he answered, now confused himself. "I didn't know I needed to be familiar with a person to mock them from a distance. But I thought we were looking for Katsuya-san?"

That got them moving again at least, and they _kept_ moving until they reached a fork.

"I don't suppose you know which one of these is the right one, Shokunin?" Honda asked, turning to Harry as he'd been the one to tell them that this was the way to the nearest Duel platform.

"The basic rule for _all_ mazes is to take the right-hand path on the way in, and the left-hand path on the way out," he answered.

Then Ryou took a step and his foot sunk down on a switch.

Behind them, a rumbling could be heard, and soon they could see a large boulder racing towards them.

"Conveniently, the path we're taking isn't _big_ enough to let that boulder through," Harry said, his voice slightly nervous. He _could_ apparate away, but that wouldn't help Ryou and the others at all, not to mention leave them with a lot of questions he didn't want to answer. "After all, Peggy would _hate_ for a Duel he was watching to be interrupted by something like _that_," he added as he moved jerkily to the right-hand path.

Anzu, Yugi, Honda and Ryou also moved very quickly into the tunnel and down it until it was properly confirmed that the boulder wasn't still behind them. After that, it didn't take them long to reach the Duel Arena that was being used.

"Jounouchi!" Yugi and Honda both yelled at once as they all came to a halt behind the blonde.

"Yugi... You're here..." Jounouchi said, amazed by this simple fact.

"What kind of Duel Arena _is_ this?" Yugi asked, clearly kind of horrified by the whole thing.

"The grave yard," Harry answered simply.

"Are you crazy?" Honda asked Jounouchi. "Why on earth did you accept a Duel in a place like _this_?"

"Yeah, like I really had a choice," Jounouchi answered. "Those three creeps there ganged up on me and _forced_ me into this crazy Duel!" he explained, pointing behind him to the other group across the Arena.

"The problem is that you accepted regardless and made it a totally legal Duel," Harry said, cutting in before any of the others could start yelling objections.

"In that case Jounouchi," Honda said, reaching into his pocket, "you're just going to have to beat these punks. And if you're going to need a little added motivation try this!" At which point he brought back his arm to throw something to his friend.

Harry slipped it out from between Honda's fingers before it could go flying.

"That's no way to treat something that could act as motivation," he said firmly, holding the yellow wallet firmly in his own hand. "How's it been going for you so far?" he asked Jounouchi, not taking a step closer.

"Well, I was winnin' until he pulled out this magic card that brings dead cards back as zombies, _and_ it's still in effect what's worse, bumpin' up their attack power every turn, and I can't kill 'em. Then I tried usin' the Time Wizard, but it backfired on me, and then _he_ pulled out that pumpkin monstrosity and I'm getting slaughtered. That pretty much brings you up to date with how the battle is going," Jounouchi answered.

Harry nodded and opened the wallet to see just _what_ motivation Honda had been going to throw to his friend. "This is the sister you mentioned?" he asked, turning the wallet around for Jounouchi to see.

Jounouchi nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "That's her, that's Shizuka."

Harry turned it back around to face him once more and nodded himself, then slipped the wallet into one of his pockets and walked calmly up towards Jounouchi's station at the platform.

"You're not going to interrupt the fight," insisted one of the large guys as he stepped up to block Harry's path.

"No intention," he answered, stepping smoothly around the meat-head. "But I can return my classmate's wallet to him, surely?" he tossed over his shoulder when it was too late for the thugs to stop him.

"Boss?"

"Che, let him," agreed the man who was wearing sunglasses down in such a dark cave, waving a dismissal.

Harry held out the wallet for Jounouchi to take back, and looked around the other teen to the deck that was sitting beside the field waiting for use.

"You might think of actually drawing a new card too," he advised. "When was the last time you did that, hmm?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I've just been usin' monsters from my hand," Jounouchi agreed, and set his open wallet down next to his deck before immediately drawing a card.

Harry, for his part, turned his back on the Duel and walked back to the others. "You know, if he'd had a Reaper of the Cards, it would have saved him a lot of trouble," he commented calmly. "Still, I'm sure he'll do just fine with the card he's just picked up."

"How can you be so confident?" Anzu asked, wide-eyed.

Harry smiled but didn't answer.

Behind him, Jounouchi put down the Shield and Sword card, which switched defence and attack scores, and allowed him to cream the cretin he had been facing, winning the Duel.

Sunglasses grit his teeth and got up from where he'd been sitting. "See ya 'round, _loser_," he said firmly as he headed out.

"But...Wait... Boss!" the ghoulish boy said, visibly distressed with the abandonment as well as the loss.

"And maybe _next_ time," Jounouchi said, his eyes fixed on the sunglasses-wearing man, "you'll have the guts to Duel me _yourself_ rather than from behind one of your flunkies."

The man laughed and just kept walking, his flunkies falling in behind him.

"Sorry to drag you guys into this," Jounouchi said, hopping down from the Duellist's Platform.

"Maybe next time you won't be in such a hurry to run off?" Honda suggested.

"You really had us all worried," Yugi added.

"But you won, and that's the important thing," Ryou added.

Honda chuckled. "Yeah, as long as he won the Duel, I guess we can forgive him."

"That's great. Now can we get _out_ of this creepy pit?" Anzu entreated.

Harry pointed to a path that went on beyond the Field that Jounouchi had been Duelling on. "That was Bandit Keith who was back-seat Duelling. An underhanded sort by all accounts, and he's probably blocking up the way out right now. Lucky for us, there's a way out on ahead. It's just a whole lot deeper in," he explained as he tugged them all onwards, rather than letting them turn back.

~oOo~


	6. Chapter 6

"So do we take the _first_ right, or _any_ right?" Ryou asked when the tunnel turned into a corridor with a dozen different options branching off.

Harry sighed and pulled the Millennium Ring out of his shirt, though not off his neck. This caused a set of simultaneous reactions from Anzu, Jounouchi and Honda. In order of who said what, it went like this:

"Hey!"

"Wow!"

"That's like Yugi's Puzzle!"

"Yes," Harry agreed, "and no," he added. "Because _unlike_ Muto-san and his Millennium Puzzle, I _do_ know how the Millennium Ring works, fully and completely. But then, I've had it since I was just one year old, so I've had more time to learn."

"So it can help us find a way out of here?" Anzu asked.

Harry chuckled. "So could the Puzzle, though that would require for Muto-san to remove it from his neck, and it would take longer, tossing it in the air every few steps to see if we go straight or turn," he explained, then lifted the Ring so that it was level with the ground. "So my friend," he said, carefully not naming the Thief King in any way. "Which way is our target?"

Those around him probably thought that he meant the exit. Harry knew better. The Thief King's target was the Millennium Eye.

One of the spikes hanging from the Ring raised itself and pointed the way, leading Harry and the others through the labyrinth of corridors until they reached an interesting-looking Duel Arena, rather than the surface.

"What _is_ this place?" Anzu asked.

"You have entered -" started one voice.

"- sacred ground," said a second.

"Where only Duellists -" the first continued.

"- can be found," finished the second voice.

"Yeah, well we're Duellists," Jounouchi said, already slightly put off by the rhyming coming from people not yet seen.

"Before you pass -" said the first voice.

"- across this chamber..." continued the second.

And then the two speakers appeared, flipping and tumbling like a pair of circus acrobats – until they got to the mock-fighting bit, at which point it was more like they were wanna-be ninjas.

"You must agree -"

"- to face the danger."

"So let the contest -"

"- now begin."

"Notify -"

"- your next of kin!"

"You're trapped."

"And the doors are all locked."

Then together the two of the struck a dumb (but vaguely martial-arts-y) pose and said: "You face the brothers Para Dox."

"Employed by Pegasus as eliminators," continued the first.

"To take all your star-chip indicators," finished the second.

"And if, by some crazy fluke you happen to win..."

"Why then, a puzzling _new_ test shall begin."

"For over my shoulder, you see a door, and over my brother's, you'll see -"

"- one door more!"

"The test a choice -"

"- that you mus make."

And they struck a _different_ pose before saying in unison "Which of these doors will you take?"

"One door leads to an endless maze,"

"Where you will wander all your days."

"The other door's the path you need."

"Choose correctly and you'll be freed."

"But which door leads out?"

"And which leads to woe?"

"That's for you to guess -"

"- and the brothers Para Dox to know."

"So even if Yugi wins this match, we could _still_ wind up stuck in those caves for_ever_?" Anzu asked, peeved at the prospect just as much as the rhyming.

"Against us, one mere Duellist would be creamed."

"So you must Duel as a team."

"Uh _huh_," Harry said, having tucked his Ring back down his shirt long since. Scepticism was thick in his tone. "Try me," he challenged.

"Huh?" yelped the rest of the group he'd led here.

"Shokunin? Are you sure you can do that?" Yugi asked.

Harry smiled. "Oh I'm sure," he answered. "In fact, I'm sure I could win against them blind-folded, but there's no need to pop their egos quite _that_ much."

Jounouchi chuckled. "That sounds kinda like Mai's perfumed deck," then his amused expression dropped. "Offerin' kisses to guys and a perfumed deck. Man, Shokunin, what's _with_ you?"

"I assure you, Katsuya-san, I don't use any kind of scented products on my cards," Harry answered.

"You dare to mock us, but you will see."

"That you shall lose most resoundingly."

"Put your star-chips where your mouths are. _All_ of them," Harry dared with a smirk. "I win against you both on my own, and you hand over enough star-chips to see _all_ of us through. Ryou-san and I only need one more each, but Muto-san needs four, and Jounouchi-san just two."

"When you lose you will be out eight star-chips."

"To make such a wager, you must have lost your wits."

Harry walked past one of the Duellist's Platforms, setting down a deck there without a word, and then moved silently to the other Platform where he waited for the twin tumblers to take their own positions.

"Oh, Ryou-san, pick a number between one and eleven?" Harry called.

"What? Why?" Ryou asked, surprised.

"So that I know which other deck to use for this Duel of course!" Harry answered with a bright, cheeky grin.

"But, Shokunin-san, you said you had eleven decks, and you just put one down on the other platform. Shouldn't it be between one and ten?" Anzu asked.

Harry shook his head. "Oh, I _never_ count that deck as _mine_," he answered. "Even if I _am_ always carrying it with me." It was the Thief King's deck after all. If he was going to be on a team with anybody, then it was going to be with the Spirit of the Ring.

"One?" Ryou answered at last.

Harry nodded and pulled out the appropriate deck, shuffled it, then set it down. That done, he moved off the platform and stood exactly in the middle between the two, and raised his hands. Five cards drifted up from the decks and formed perfect fans, as though they were being held by two invisible people. Except that there was four feet of empty space between Harry and the floating cards.

There was a general exclamation of awe and wonder from behind, while in front of him, Harry saw two jaws drop in disbelief.

"Shall I go first then?" he asked, gesturing to the left. Obediently, a card rose from the small fan and set down on the screen. "I believe, to make all things even, I have four-thousand life-points total, two-thousand to each deck, and lose if _one_ of them counts back to zero, yes? And the same for you? Two-thousand life-points to each of you?"

While he was speaking, the 'field' changed. The card he'd laid down was an old 'field' card, from before playing mats came with field distinctions. The _old fashioned_ _way_ for cards to get a Field Bonus. Over the top of the grid appeared a misty moor, full of hidden sink holes.

"Your move," Harry said smoothly, smiling still.

It was an impressive Duel, but the twins' strategy was clearly a bit more based on their having control of the field. This was not to say that they didn't have some impressive monsters, and magic, and traps, but seeing Harry's cards hanging in the air all by themselves, being placed and arranged and him never being surprised by what appeared even though he couldn't see his cards at all until they manifested on the field, was _very_ unnerving.

Harry was the only person who could see the Thief King's astral projection walking between the two hands of cards and telling him what they were after all. Perhaps a cheap trick, but an impressive one all the same, and neither he nor the Thief King were above using psychology against their opponents.

The brothers did cheer a bit when they assembled their Gate Guardian, but then Harry surprised everybody by using a polymerisation card and blending, of all things, _Exodia_ with a _Blue Eyes White Dragon_, the latter of which got a slight Field Bonus from being a semi-water dragon in a wet landscape and the life-points of both brothers appropriately vanished. In a word: overkill. Then again, the Gate Guardian _was_ in the same league as Exodia, so _perhaps_ not... Oh well, it was done now anyway.

Harry walked from one Platform to the other to collect his cards back, then walked around the Arena to collect the star-chips from the two brothers. If he casually swiped the cards for the water, wind and thunder gods that made up the Gate Guardian, and that unpleasant card Ryoku that they'd launched when things were looking desperate, nobody saw him do it.

"I don't understand," Yugi said as he (and the others) stood in front of Harry, getting from him the star-chips that he'd won for them in that very... _odd_ Duel. "How did you get the Exodia cards? Where did you get the Blue Eyes from?"

"The Exodia Cards just fell into my hand, quite literally, on the boat ride over. As for the Blue Eyes..." Harry trailed off with a smile. "Well, nobody gave me a kiss, so I kept it," he answered.

The eyes of everybody who had been present when Harry had made that offer to Kaiba popped wide open.

"And the offer has _long_ since expired by now," Harry added. "I've had the Blue Eyes for almost a month after all."

"You mean to say that if _I'd_ given you a kiss when you said that, you'd have given _me_ the card?" Anzu asked. "And I could have given it back to Yugi and his grandfather?"

Harry put on a false pout. "Too late for shoulda, coulda, woulda, Mazaki-chan," he informed her with equally false sorrow. "Besides, I only said I'd give it back if I was given a kiss. I never said who I'd have given it back to or who had to be the one to kiss me."

"So for all we know, you could have given it back to Yugi if Kaiba had kissed you," Honda observed.

"Too late for shoulda, coulda, woulda," Harry repeated. "Though I _will_ leave the picking of the door to Muto-san."

He was half of a mind to wipe all their memories of his impressive levitating cards that Duelled with very little _apparent_ direction from him, but as had been pointed out to him by Tsukimura-san at his cram-school the night before, all the Duels were being broadcast live. There would be no point. He'd just have to hope that _Peggy_ wasn't watching that particular Duel.

Then again, what difference would it make if he were?

~oOo~


	7. Chapter 7

It was quite the party at their host's table when they reached his door with all their star-chips. As well as them, Kujaku Mai had recovered all of her star-chips and then some, Bandit Keith was there with his three flunkies suspiciously absent, and of course Kaiba Seto was present – and apparently had been for some time. He'd gotten all ten of the needed star-chips on the first day, and had been searching Pegasus' castle for Mokuba since.

Harry got the story from him quietly as they ate. Seto had found Mokuba, but Pegasus had done _something_ to the kid, claimed to have his soul sequestered away and inaccessible to him unless he won the Tournament.

"So the kid just can't get himself out," the Thief King said within Harry's mind. "He's not _properly_ banished to the Shadow Realm according to the Rules of the Shadow Games. I _could_ go for a walk in the Shadow Realm and bring the kid back," he offered, and it was a genuine offer too. Even the Thief King had gotten to like Mokuba in the short time Harry had known the kid.

"No," Harry answered silently. "He doesn't really know you, and would likely resist because of it, which could damage his soul."

It wasn't like they'd been introduced when Harry took Mokuba to the Shadow Realm to bring back Seto from what Yugi had done after all...

"It will also be easier to bring him back if we do it with the same Item that he was banished with. Send a Blue Eyes White Dragon to guard him, and anybody else Peggy has shunted off because they're bait. That's Seto's favourite card, and everybody around the world knows it. Mokuba at least can feel like his big brother is guarding him even in the Shadow Realm," Harry requested silently, and received an affirmative feeling from the Thief King before his presence departed from him to do just that.

The Thief King did have a _little_ autonomy, at least so far as taking himself to the Shadow Realm anyway.

Harry retired to his assigned bedroom for the evening, then popped out back to his own home in Domino once more. He didn't know if Peggy had security cameras in the bedrooms, but Harry wanted to review his decks, what with all the cards he had acquired during this shindig.

The line-up come morning looked interesting anyway. Bandit Keith against Katsuya Jounouchi, Harry would be Duelling Bakura Ryou, and Kujaku Mai against Muto Yugi. The first battle of the second round would be whoever won _that_ battle against Kaiba Seto, who got a free pass on the first round as reigning champion.

"Now, cards oh my cards, old friends and new, who wants to go out to battle tomorrow?" Harry asked, guiding all of the cards to hover in the air and sort themselves into piles based on certain attributes.

When morning came though, and Harry returned to Pegasus' castle, it was to witness minor chaos in the flinging of accusations of theft. It seemed that Bandit Keith hadn't actually been an _officially invited_ participant, and lacked the card that would allow him to participate in the finals. Of course, Jounouchi hadn't been officially invited either, making it onto the island, and then into the finals, through Yugi's help – the donation of his first star-chip and the Glory of the King's Hand card both, though Yugi had held onto the card for Jounouchi until the morning. No, it had been _Ryou's_ Glory of the King's Hand that had been stolen, which potentially left Harry without an opponent.

In point of fact, it _did_ leave Harry without an opponent. Largely because Ryou wasn't the one kicking up a fuss about the theft. Rather, it was Anzu and Honda who were doing that.

"Really, I'm just pleased to have gotten this far, and the prize didn't mean all that much to me anyway," Ryou said, holding up his hands in an attempt to placate his furious friends. "Shokunin-san, I hope that when this is all over, we could have a quiet Duel without all the fancy technology?"

Harry nodded. "I'd like that," he agreed. He meant it too.

Rather than having him just Duel Kaiba though, Harry would be set to Duel the winner of Jounouchi and Bandit Kieth's confrontation, just like Kaiba would be Duelling the winner between Mai and Yugi.

"I'm torn," Jounouchi said to Harry, a smirk before stepping out onto the Duellist's Platform. "On one hand, I'd love to see _you_ cream this jerk. On the other, I'm _really_ lookin' forward to wipin' that damn smirk off of his face myself."

"You _do_ have a score to settle," Yugi pointed out from Jounouchi's other side.

"And I'd rather have a _good_ Duel against _you_, than a boring match-up with a self-important bozo like him," Harry quipped, only the tiniest bit sarcastic. "No fun at all," he added. "I'm fairly sure that even Miho-chan would be a more interesting opponent."

"Miho-chan?" Mai asked, leaning in to hear the conversation better.

"Er, Nosaka Miho is a girl in our class as Domino High School. She, uh, really doesn't _understand_ games like Duel Monsters. She trades away powerful monsters, useful magic cards, and fantastic trap cards for _cute_ ones. I think she has about fifty Kuribo," Yugi explained.

"Nothing against Kuribo of course," Harry added, perfectly serious and totally _not_ phased by this description of the girl and her deck. "But fifty is perhaps a bit excessive."

Mai blinked. "Uh, yeah. And you're saying that a girl with fifty Kuribo would be a more interesting Duel than Bandit Keith?" she asked.

Harry nodded solemnly, sparking laughter all around him for various different reasons. Of course, Bandit Keith wasn't laughing, but no one expected him to when he was being so blithely insulted.

Then the Duelling began.

~oOo~

It didn't take much for Jounouchi _or_ Yugi to win their Duels, though to be fair, Mai put up a better front than Bandit Keith did, even without the Mirror Wall that Harry had taken from her two days ago. Of course, when Harry played the Red Eyes Black Dragon against Jounouchi's opening monster... Well, let's just say the fight was extremely one-sided and didn't last very long.

The Duel between Seto and Yugi, on the other hand, brought new meaning to the phrase 'epic battle'. It was close, it was fierce, it had everybody on the edges of their seats, biting their nails, or leaning over the railings wondering how it would go. After all, _both_ of these excellent Duellists had the soul of a loved-one on the line.

By the narrowest of margins though, in the end, Yugi scraped through a win.

"I promise Kaiba," he said when the Duel was over. "I'll get Mokuba back for you."

Kaiba just turned his head away in disgust. Likely with himself for having failed his little brother – again.

"No you won't," Harry said, stepping up to take Seto's place on the Duellist's Platform.

"Shokunin-san?" Yugi asked, surprised by the declaration.

"Because _you_ _don't know how_," Harry reiterated calmly. "You've come a long way in just a couple of months Muto-san, but you still have really only figured out _half_ of that Puzzle you wear around your neck."

"Shokunin," Seto said quietly, his voice low and a little dangerous. "You had _better_ get my brother back for me. I don't _like_ owing you anything, but I know at least that you won't hang it over my head for years, pretending that it isn't there."

Harry nodded silently and set his chosen deck down where Seto had just lifted his from.

"Now, I hope you don't mind if I don't give you a choice in which deck I use either," Harry said. "But like I told Katsuya-san earlier, I went through _all_ of my decks and sorted out just the one for today. I'll sort it back into the usual collections afterwards, but just for today there were certain cards that really _wanted_ to be on hand."

Yugi's eyes went wide. "Not -?"

Harry held up a hand. "Ah ah ah, no naming names, thank you kindly. I don't feel like giving anything away," he said, jerking his thumb to where Pegasus was resting comfortably in his front-row seat.

Yugi clenched his teeth and drew his first card. "I play Gaia the Fierce Knight!"

Silently, Harry set down one card, and then another. No one had to ask what the first card was, as the Feral Imp appeared on the field as soon as he placed it down. The second card however, remained a mystery.

"Are you nuts? The Feral Imp only has an attack power of thirteen hundred! Gaia's attack power is a thousand more than that!" Kaiba yelled from the viewing platform.

It was too late for the yelling to do any apparent good though, as Yugi's monster was charging Harry's. Except that... a trap card was sprung.

"That's my Mirror Wall card that Hiei-kun won from me two days ago!" Mai exclaimed in surprise.

"That's right, he said he'd Duelled you and taken one of your cards. He wouldn't tell us which one though," Anzu said, the memory clicking into place.

Mai nodded. "Back on day one, somewhere between my Duel with Jounouchi and when I dragged Ryuzaki along to Duel him," she answered.

"So, what does the Mirror Wall do?" Jounouchi asked. "You didn't use it in _our_ Duel."

"It hits the monster with their own attack and halves their attack points," Mai answered. "And I didn't think I'd _need_ it, what with the wimpy monsters you were sending out, so I didn't use it."

"So... Gaia the Fierce Knight goes from two-thousand, three-hundred attack points down to one-thousand, one-hundred and fifty. That's just one-hundred and fifty attack points less than the Feral Imp..." Anzu said, counting on her fingers to make sure she got her numbers right.

"It's enough of a difference for Shokunin-san to win between the two of them," Ryou pointed out.

When Harry added the Enchanted Horn of the Unicorn to the Feral Imp, bringing its attack points up to two-thousand even, that gap got even larger. Eight-hundred and fifty points were removed from Yugi's life-point total, as well as his monster removed from the field of battle to the graveyard.

In response, Yugi brought out his Dark Magician. A monster with twenty-five-hundred attack points. Well, it _had_ twenty-five-hundred, but when it hit the Mirror Wall just like Gaia had done before, that went down to one-thousand, two-hundred and fifty.

"A permanent trap?" Yugi exclaimed, surprised. He had clearly never come across the Mirror Wall before. It was even possible he'd never faced a trap card that didn't disappear after it was sprung.

When Harry brought out the Red Eyes Black Dragon and had both it _and_ the Feral Imp attack Yugi's Dark Magician, the Duel was all over.

"Nothing personal," Harry assured his shorter classmate – who was once more _himself_, and not under the influence of the spirit of the Puzzle. "But like I said before, back in the tunnels and just before we started this Duel, you really don't know enough about that Puzzle you put on display wherever you go."

Yugi collapsed where he stood. "No... Grandpa..."

Silently, Pegasus got up from his chair and left his viewing platform.

When the door closed behind him, Harry turned to Yugi. "Not to sound cruel, but if one of your classmates can run a multi-million dollar corporation while keeping up his grades, is there some reason you can't run your grandfather's game shop? He's an old man, you were going to have to face his loss someday anyway," he said.

"But not _yet_, and not like _this_!" Yugi said fiercely, tears in his eyes as he looked up to where Harry was standing.

Harry couldn't think of anything to say to that, and instead turned on his heel. He had one last thing to make ready before facing Peggy.

"Well, this _is_ a surprise," Pegasus said as he walked up the ramp to the Duellist's Platform, where he stood across the Duelling Arena from Harry. "I'd fully expected to be Duelling Yugi. I _am_ impressed though. You've turned out to be _quite_ the young Duellist, battling your way through all the other Duellists, winning your way into the castle, just to face _me_."

Harry didn't answer the man, didn't even look at him. In fact, Harry took off his glasses, tucked them in a pocket, and started shuffling his deck.

"Challenger Shokunin Hiei, as per the rules of the Duellist Kingdome Tournament, present the card that entitles you to participate," instructed a man with a big moustache, bad hair-cut, and big reflective sunglasses. Obviously a security goon rather than any kind of real judge or gaming official.

"As per your rules," Harry agreed, "here it is: Glory of the King's Opposite Hand," he said, holding up the card in one hand, even though his gaze was still fixed on his deck – which was still quietly shuffling itself in his palm, unaided by anything visible.

"So it is," the security man allowed. "And so the stage is set for the final and deciding Duel of the Duellist Kingdom Competition. Just as the card you hold is a blank slate, there are no limits to the prize you may request of your opponent if you are the victor. You can decide, if you wish, to take over his company as your reward for winning. You can ask for this entire island, or demand Mr Pegasus' Millenium Eye as your prize."

Harry didn't react visibly to this information beyond setting the card down on the console in front of him and taking over shuffling manually once more. Still he didn't look up from his cards.

From the balcony above, quiet exclamations of lunacy were being made.

"Hmm? _Any_ request will be honoured?" Pegasus said, feigning shock, as though this was news to him. "_Wow_, now that's what _I_ call a prize. Do I know how to throw a Tournament or do I know how to throw a Duellist Kingdom Tournament?"

Harry's cards once more kept shuffling as he removed the hand from them that was ostensibly moving them to reach into an inner pocket of his jacket. He withdrew, of all things, a paper aeroplane which he sent flying across the Arena to Pegasus.

"What I _want_," he said quietly, still not looking up, "from _you_ at least, is that list fulfilled in its entirety. How does _that_ strike you?" Harry asked.

The fine eyebrow over Pegasus' single visible eye climbed upwards as that eye drifted down the list, then he smirked. "Of course," he agreed. "You win, you get everything on this list."

"Sign it," Harry insisted lowly, still not looking up at the man. "I want guarantees."

Pegasus sighed, melodramatically, withdrew a pen from his own jacket, and signed his name to the bottom of the paper before folding it up and sending the paper aeroplane back to Harry.

"Of course, it's not a one-way thing _Hiei-kun_," Pegasus said. "If _I_ am the one to defeat _you_ instead, then you have to fulfil _your_ end of the bargain as well. Take a close look at that card. There's a _reason_ that it's blank you know, for if I win then I claim your soul. _Forever_."

"I guess you'll have the body all to yourself then," Harry said within his mind to the Thief King.

"I'll have you know, Landlord, that I've grown _fond_ of you in the time we've been together," the Thief King answered, just a little dangerously. "Even with as rarely as I get to have fun under my own power any more."

"So while you have much to gain," Pegasus said, pointing his finger at Harry and interrupting the silent conversation. "You have much to _risk_ as well."

Harry shrugged. "That's fine," he agreed blandly, as though he was merely accepting that a dinner partner who had gotten to their reservation first had ordered for him, rather than agreeing to putting his soul on the line. "You've got yourself a Shadow Game."

In the corners of the room, the shadows became just a little bit deeper, signifying the true power behind Harry's words, even as gently as he said them. Shadow _Games_ didn't have to happen in the Shadow _Realm_ after all.

"The final battle of Duellist Kingdom will now begin, and the winner will be declared 'King of Games'," announced the security goon as a platform with two other security goons dropped down from the ceiling. "Now you will cut and shuffle your opponent's cards," he continued, and the two goons who'd come down from the ceiling walked up to Pegasus and Harry, each with a velvet-covered tray, taking the decks and carrying them across to the other in plain sight of all present.

Harry put on his glasses once more in order to accept Pegasus' deck. He flicked it theatrically from one hand to the other, then cut and flicked the two halves into each other, as might be done by a host at a card table in a casino before replacing the cards on the velvet-covered tray.

Pegasus just lightly tapped one finger to Harry's deck and declared "it's good as it is", and then the decks were returned to their owners.

The life-point counters were re-set to two-thousand, and the Duel declared.

But Harry took his glasses off again and slipped them into a pocket. Then he took a black silk scarf out of another pocket and wrapped it over his eyes.

"What is this?" Pegasus growled, clearly made angry. It was less clear, but no less true, that he was thrown off his game right then and there.

A sentiment that was echoed from the balcony somewhat violently.

"Eyes are the window to the soul, and with your Millennium Eye you just need to be able to see my eyes to be able to see into my mind. Just like with _other_ forms of true mind-reading, I _could_ defend against it... With that Eye backing you up though, it would be rather difficult to concentrate on defending my mind _and_ Duelling at the same time," Harry said calmly as he began to draw his cards. "So, thank you very much, but we'll be playing this with _you_ as aware of my cards as any _other_ Duellist would be, with you _unable_ to see my cards, my thoughts or my plans. It's the only guaranteed way of preventing one's mind from being read. Shutter the windows that allow others to look in. So Peggy, would you care to go first?"

"I know _I_ could play Duel Monsters blind-folded," Mai said as she stared on in wonder, "but that's because I use perfume to tell me which card is which. I really doubt Hiei-kun uses the same trick."

"He doesn't. I asked," Jounouchi confirmed flatly, recalling the Duel between Harry and the brothers Para and Dox, and when the green-eyed teen had said he could Duel them blind-folded, leading Jounouchi to make the same connection that Mai just had.

"So... how does he do it?" Mai asked.

"Maybe he's _really_ psychic?" Honda suggested weakly.

"Well, he got us through the labyrinth pretty much without help, and when he Duelled the bald brothers down there..." Anzu faltered, as though she was still coming to grips with what exactly _had_ happened down there.

"More like his cards Duelled on their own," Ryou put in, shuddering. "That's mainly why I wasn't objecting to Bandit Keith having stolen my Glory of the King's Hand card. If you'll recall, _I_ was supposed to be Shokunin-san's first opponent. I wouldn't mind having a Duel with him after class across a desk, but... I'm more than willing to admit that I find him a somewhat terrifying prospect for an opponent."

"What happened?" Mai pressed. "What do you mean the cards Duelled on their own?"

While those who had witnessed the Duel explained about the floating cards, the perfect strategy, and how Harry hadn't even glanced at either fan of cards _once_, below them the Duel between Harry and Pegasus had begun.

"By the by," Harry said as he destroyed Pegasus' Red Archery Girl with the Dark Magician, effectively bringing Pegasus' life-points down from two-thousand to nine-hundred in one move. Fortunately _not_ springing the trap card that the red-clad man had set down, as his own attack didn't meet the requirements to spring it. "How long have you had that Eye? One year? Two? Five?"

"Eight," Pegasus answered through grit teeth as he drew his next card.

Harry nodded and said nothing more on the matter. Really, what would be the _point_ in telling the man that he was more than five years behind Harry when it came to time to practice with his Millennium Item. About as much point as indicating that he had personally no longer _needed_ any kind of help from the Ring, or the Thief King, (though, it _had_ been a little fun being 'partnered' with said Thief King in the Duel against Para and Dox, and right now he was whispering which cards Harry was holding to him, but that was a private thing) to win in a Duel for about _six_ years . Especially since it seemed that Pegasus hadn't Duelled without the aid of _his_ Item since he'd gotten it.

As evidenced by the man's continued frontal assault – and a rather sloppy frontal assault it was too, sending out a monster that was only one-hundred points more powerful than the Dark Magician in order to remove it from the field. No new trap cards, no magic cards, hardly even any style. Being robbed of his advantage had apparently really left him _quite_ handicapped at his own game. Or perhaps it was the psyche-out of playing against someone who was blind-folded.

Harry sighed in frustration with the man, even as his own life-points dropped by one hundred and the Dark Magician was sent to the graveyard.

On the other hand, Harry hadn't given Pegasus much room to manoeuvre as far as strategy, with the way he'd shuffled the man's cards. Never let it be _said_ that Harry was a card-sharp, he was _much_ too subtle to ever get _caught_ arranging an opponent's deck just so. All the same, he was one.

He was also fond of over-kill when facing puffed up, self-important fools – like Para and Dox, like Mai _had_ been, and like Pegasus was.

He played the Blue Eyes White Dragon, and equipped it with the Enchanted Horn of the Unicorn, bringing its total attack points up to thirty-seven-hundred. This rather effectively destroyed Pegasus' monster and wiped out the _rest_ of the man's life-points. Harry had just won the Duellist Kingdom Tournament _blind-folded_, and in just a couple of turns to boot.

"And now, I _believe_ that you know what comes next?" Harry asked, collecting up his deck, removing the blind-fold, donning his glasses once more and taking out the piece of paper that Pegasus had signed before the Duel began.

"No! No! _No!_ I can't believe I lost!" Pegasus cried, falling to his knees.

Harry raised a dispassionate eyebrow. "Deal with it Peggy. Now, you have some souls to free, some very important papers, as well as your deck, to hand over, and of course, the Millennium Eye."

"How did this happen? How did _you_ even defeat _Yugi_, let alone _me_?" Pegasus demanded as his cards were scattered around him by his frenzied movements.

Harry let his face drop into a blank and emotionless mask. "I stopped _relying_ on something other than my own person to win my battles for me a _long_ time ago. After all, if you use your trump in every fight, soon you'll forget how to fight without it, and your trump will become your weakness," Harry explained dispassionately.

~oOo~


	8. Chapter 8

Harry stood over Pegasus in his tower as the man signed papers and set them in a suitcase. Each paper gave something else that had been his to Harry. The deed for the island was there, as were the papers that now named Harry as the owner and president of Industrial Illusions, a cheque for a large portion of Pegasus' personal fortune to be deposited into Harry's bank account, and a full statement of what he'd been planning to do with the Millennium Items, the reason he wanted to take over Kaiba Corporation... Harry took the lot and then some. The last thing to be set into Harry's suitcase was Pegasus' deck.

Pegasus obediently freed the souls of Mokuba and Sugoroku, and didn't so much as flinch when Harry took them both into the Shadow Realm to check with the Blue Eyes White Dragon who had been guarding the two souls in question, to make sure that they really had been safely delivered back to their own bodies.

"They're back where they belong," the Thief King confirmed within Harry's mind, translating for the Blue Eyes.

Finally, he took the Millennium Eye from Pegasus' head. As gently as possible of course, he wasn't a particularly violent person. Cold maybe, when the situation called for it, but not cruel. He used a few medical spells to remove first the pain, then the eye itself.

The Thief King approved the masterful execution of the entire plan, even if it wasn't entirely subtle, and then they left the man to cry his single remaining eye out over the loss of any chance to ever restore his beautiful, deceased, wife to life.

Harry, with Mokuba who had been brought to him by Pegasus' head of security, joined up with everybody else as they walked down to the dock, where they would take the luxury liner back to the mainland and home again.

"It's done!" he told them all cheerfully. "Souls are restored, Peggy is brought down a peg, and I even got him to sign cheques for each of you," he added, handing out the slips of paper. "Compensation for trauma I'd say," he explained as he even passed one to Mokuba.

"What do I owe you, Shokunin?" Seto asked, wrapping an arm around his little brother. "You got Mokuba back for me, just like you promised. What do I owe you?"

"What?" Anzu yelped, butting in where she wasn't wanted. "You can't mean that! You're asking someone to put a _price_ on the value of a _life_?" she asked indignantly, as though the very idea were offensive.

"Doctors do it all the time," Harry quipped at the girl. "While I may be a philanthropist to _some_ extent, such as handing out vast amounts of someone else's money, I _do_ like to get _returns_ for effort expended now and then," he explained, then turned to Seto. "How do you feel about a merger between Industrial Illusions, which is currently under _my_ control, and the Kaiba Corporation?" he suggested.

Seto smirked. "Sounds profitable, and much more appealing than being taken over by Pegasus," he answered, then dropped the smirk. "But that isn't me paying you back for saving Mokuba. That's business."

Yugi jogged up to walk abreast with the two taller teens as well. "Uh, for that matter, I owe you for getting my grandpa back too."

"And getting me the money to pay for Shizuka's surgery!" Jounouchi added.

Harry stopped walking, took a deep breath, and turned to Seto, pointing a finger at him. "Design a Yellow Eyes Grey Dragon for me to put into production. There's a Red Eyes Black Dragon and a Blue Eyes White Dragon, a Yellow Eyes Grey Dragon ought to round out the set and be somewhere in the middle, but to my knowledge it doesn't exist," Harry said.

Seto nodded, accepting this as payment in conjunction with the merger. The merger, as he'd said, would be good for business, but it would be a bit of a pain to put together so that they _both_ benefited. Of course, the advertising campaign would likely include that Harry had been declared the King of Games and Top Duellist in the World at the Duellist's Kingdom Tournament, which would bolster sales of all associated products.

Harry rounded on Yugi while Seto's mind began to make plans. "Don't tell your grandpa that I've got his Exodia cards, and I want you to learn a) more about your damn Puzzle, and b) to be a good enough Duellist to defeat the spirit that you've been sharing your brain-space with since you solved it!"

"What?" Anzu yelped.

"You can't rely on him to fight every battle for you, or you'll never get stronger," Harry pointed out.

Yugi nodded, though his expression was clearly one of concern. Still, Harry had made a good point.

Last, but not least, Harry turned to Jounouchi. "You're not a special case," he said. "Everybody else here will get the same amount of money when you cash those cheques. I know you've got to pay for your sister's surgery, but see if you can't invest some of that money as well. Learn to manage your money, not rely on prize money to see you through for things."

Jounouchi nodded.

"Hey, what's that?" Ryou asked, pointing ahead of them and drawing everybody's attention to where the space was warping and a man appearing out of nowhere.

"He's got a Millennium Item too," Yugi said softly, surprise lacing his voice. "Who're you?" he asked the man.

This seemed to just fix the stranger's attention on Yugi, as he walked towards the boy, bringing his Millennium Item up and placing the tip of it to Yugi's brow, then turning it... like a key in a lock.

Yugi had barely time to ask what the man was doing before it was being done.

"Ooh. Er, Landlord? I think know what he's here for," the Thief King said, slightly nervously, from within Harry's mind. "He wears the robes of a grave-keeper, and since he's got the Millennium Key, it's a fair guess that he came to take back at least _one_ of the Items."

"I don't think they want _you_ back, Bakura," Harry answered, also within his own mind, not even forming the words with his lips as he watched Yugi's form going stiff and a barrier rising, invisible but solid, around the two of them. "And because Muto-san solved the Puzzle, he's got a more than legitimate claim to it by my reckoning."  
"The Eye," moaned the Thief King. "Aww, I wanted to put it into a teddy bear."

Harry had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at the spirit's whining tone. Yes, once upon a time the Thief King had plans of world domination, but hanging around Harry for as long as he had... well, it altered things more than a little.

"I apologise for my rude intrusion into your mind," the man said, drawing back his key. "I did not realise that you are the Chosen One, and that the ancient predictions have finally been fulfilled at last. In my search for a thief, I instead found the most worthy. One fated to unlock all the magic. The theft of Pegasus' Millennium Eye is but the first sign that Evil once again walks the earth, bringing madness in its wake. As in ancient times, chaos once more threatens to envelop an unsuspecting world, and only he who solved the Millennium Puzzle can save it."

"What do you mean? Is there anything else you can tell me about this?" Yugi asked.

"Take great care. Be on your guard, for whoever the thief is who stole the Pegasus' Millennium Item, he will also come seeking yours," the stranger said firmly.

"Wow," Yugi breathed. "That's almost too scary to think about."

"Have I mentioned that I _hate_ prophecy?" the Thief King muttered within Harry's mind petulantly, never mind that he could, would and _did_ use Duel Monsters decks for readings and divination. It wasn't like he did it _often_ after all. Besides, that wasn't _prophecy_ as such.

"So open to interpretation," Harry agreed forlornly, perfectly well aware that he was _also_ supposedly a 'Chosen One'. He thought he'd done rather well to escape that fate actually. Out loud, however, he spoke up. "And what is your _name_, stranger?" he asked. "You've talked a lot for a person who hasn't even introduced himself."

"I am Shadi," the man answered. "And it is my heritage to guard the Millennium Items, as it is my charge to punish the thief who stole Pegasus' Millennium Item, whoever he may be. I can sense that _you_ have a Millennium Item as well," he added, raising his Key to do to Harry as he had done to Yugi.

"Actually, I've got two," he quipped, raising a hand to block the Key from touching his head and letting Shadi in.

The man seemed surprised to find that one finger on the tip of the Key could prevent him from applying it. Not to mention shocked at the forthright answer from the person he was, in a mildly round-about way, accusing of theft and intention to commit further theft.

Okay, Harry was a petty thief, but for important things, he liked for there to be more than a bit of legality to be on his side, thank you _very_ much!

"There's the Eye that I just _won_, legitimately I might add, from Pegasus, who handed it over willingly, and which I intend to put in a teddy bear. I also have the Ring, which was given to me on my first birthday," Harry explained, his other hand in his pocket. He was making no move at all to reveal where either Item was on his person. "Should you attempt to forcibly take either from me, then _that_ would be theft. Though I've got to say, you did a lousy job of _guarding_ when you let Peggy just walk out of that tomb with the Eye, like he said you did in his journal. Do you have _any_ idea how he's _abused_ that power since?"

"Shokunin-san, are you going to try and take Yugi's Puzzle, like you did Pegasus' Eye?" Anzu asked, her blue eyes shining with the hope that he wouldn't do such a thing.

Harry snorted, shaking his head in disgust at the very idea of _more_ exposure to the Pharaoh, though he didn't remove his finger from the end of the Millennium Key. "And do _what_ with it?" he asked. "Use it as a paperweight? Unlike the Eye or the Ring, it's rather _bulky_, and not really my style. So thanks, but no thanks."

Mokuba stepped up to Shadi and tugged gently on his robe, getting his attention.

"Hiei-san is really nice," the boy informed the Egyptian. "I'm sure if you asked _nicely_, he'd give you the Eye back."

Harry chuckled. "Give me a kiss and I'll give it back," he said with a grin, eyes sparkling and locked on Shadi.

It was rather entertaining to see Shadi pale, considering how close his skin was to being the same colour as coffee. His eyes bugged rather entertainingly as well while his jaw flapped soundlessly.

Mokuba laughed and hopped over to Harry, tugging him down by pulling on the taller teen's coat – inadvertently forcing Harry to push the Key away so that he could bend down properly. Once Harry's face was low enough, Mokuba gave Harry a peck on the cheek.

Harry withdrew his other hand from his pocket and held up the Millennium Eye, though he didn't straighten up just yet, but rather laughed quietly with Mokuba for a minute.

"I guess that teddy bear I'm making is just going to have to settle for a pair of normal, boring, glass eyes from the craft shop," Harry said with a smile, then stood up again and held the Eye out for Shadi to take. "Guard these things _better_ next time," he ordered firmly, his green eyes glinting like hardest emeralds. "Or I'll take it back for _proper_ safe-keeping. There's a _reason_ that whole villages and towns were sacrificed to lock the Items away from the rest of the world."

Not that the Thief King particularly liked admitting to that, but Harry had played Devil's Advocate when they talked about the reasons for Bakura going after the Millennium Items in the first place, and he'd eventually talked the vengeful spirit around. He even helped him deal with his grief and anger. Lots of teddy bears had helped with that, as had the anti-bully crusade they'd waged since Harry was old enough to walk without help. It was unlikely that the Thief King would ever be _fond_ of the Pharaoh though. Yugi maybe, he was a good kid too, but not the Pharaoh. Not any time soon.

~oOo~


	9. Chapter 9

"Shokunin-san, what if my grandpa's soul _wasn't_ released from the Shadow Realm?" Yugi asked worriedly, standing outside the hospital where his grandfather was being cared for. "I mean, Mokuba was right there, and we could know immediately if Pegasus had followed through with his agreement to free his soul, but..."

Harry sighed as the shorter teen trailed off. "Muto-san, in the unlikely event that Peggy somehow pulled a double-cross under _my _nose, I _can_ go to the Shadow Realm and bring your grandfather back myself. It would have been easier if I had the same Item that he'd been banished with, but I'm perfectly capable of retrieving an illegally banished soul with my Ring," Harry answered firmly.

"Illegally banished?" Jounouchi asked, confused.

"Banishing souls at _all_ should be illegal," Anzu commented sourly.

Honda nodded a firm agreement.

Harry shook his head. "It would take too long to explain," he dismissed, but looked down into Yugi's eyes. "But you'd better take the time to learn anyway," he advised. "Not from me though, I've got _enough_ on my plate. School, cram-school, supervising the running all my family's businesses, _and_ I've got to bring Industrial Illusions into the fold and work on that merger with the Kaiba Corporation," he listed, counting it off on his fingers.

"But if _you_ won't teach me -" Yugi began to protest.

"I learned everything _I_ know from the spirit that's trapped in the Millennium Ring. Learn from your Puzzle. There's a spirit in there too, isn't there?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yugi's desperate frown faded into an assured smile, and he nodded. "You're right," he agreed.

"So, shall we go and see Muto-oji now?" Harry suggested.

Those around him nodded, and, when Yugi saw his grandfather standing there in the lobby, practically threw himself at the old man.

~oOo~

When they left the hospital, Harry's house was in the same approximate direction as the Kame Game Shop, so he agreed to walk with them until they had to part ways. That had been the plan anyway, but then...

"Are you Muto Sugoroku?" demanded a pig-tailed little girl, finger pointed at the old man.

"I am," he agreed. "And who might you be?" he asked, a great deal more politely than the girl had.

"Who might I be?" she asked, suddenly sweet. "I _might_ be Rebecca," she answered. "And I _might_ have just arrived in town," and then she soured. "And I _might_ have been waiting for you to show up! It's not nice to keep a lady waiting you know!"

"It's not sensible to expect people to arrive in time to meet you when you did not contact them ahead of time to expect you," Harry countered smoothly, stepping past the group of friends and the old man to stand before the child. Like a gentleman, he took one of her hands in his and bent over it, ghosting a breath across her skin in substitute for a kiss. "Nor is it polite to scold them for a breach of etiquette when you are performing one yourself," he scolded suavely.

"I can't tell," Jounouchi said quietly to Anzu. "Is Shokunin-san flattering the brat or tellin' her off?"

Anzu shook her head, unsure herself.

"Now," Harry said as he released her hand and straightened once again. "What was it that you wanted to speak to Muto-oji about?"

Sugoroku nodded. "I admit to being curious," he allowed, a smile on his face. "What is it that you want from me?"

"My card back!"

It was a rather stunning answer, and understandably, Sugoroku was in need of some clarification.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, stunned and confused.

"You've got my Blue Eyes White Dragon, now give it back to me!" the girl answered firmly, and perhaps a little bit shrilly as well, holding her hand out demandingly.

"Eh?" was the general group consensus. Even Harry joined in with the surprised exclamation.

"Listen, you heard what I said," Rebecca snapped. "Give my Blue Eyes back _right now_!"

"There's a... slight problem," Anzu said from near the rear of the group, eyes darting to Harry as she recalled him saying that the deadline for kisses in exchange for cards had passed. The little girl was _not_ getting that card from him. To say nothing of her demanding it from the wrong person.

She wasn't the only person recalling the incident either. Even Sugoroku was recalling losing the card, though he couldn't remember what had ultimately become of it.

"The Blue Eyes White Dragon is an ultra-rare and powerful card that only belongs in the deck of a true champion," Rebecca informed them plainly. "I, Rebecca, am a true champion," she continued primly, raising a finger for emphasis. "I've travelled the world and beaten many top Duellists while you were away. Isn't that right, Teddy?" she asked her teddy bear.

"You've beaten with Top Duellists around the world?" Sugoroku asked, slightly sceptical, but also willing to be impressed if it was true.

"Yep!" she chirped. "I dare say I'm the top Duellist in America!"

"America isn't the whole world, Miss Rebecca," Harry pointed out. "A number of us, in fact, have just recently come back from a Duel Monsters tournament where the final Duel was against the man who _created_ Duel Monsters." Within himself, Harry amended 'this century anyway', before continuing. "I don't recall seeing you in that Tournament at all."

"And aren't you a little young?" Anzu asked.

Rebecca raised her nose snootily. "I'm eight," she proclaimed.

"Yeah," Jounouchi agreed. "Inches tall."

"Wait a minute," Yugi interrupted. "I remember reading an article before we left for Duellist Kingdom about a Duel Monsters prodigy who was causing a major sensation."

Rebecca nodded in proud confirmation.

"You mean to tell me that this little pip-squeak is a national champion?" Jounouchi asked Yugi quietly.

"What's the deal? Are you questioning my credentials pal?" Rebecca demanded.

"I got credentials too!" Jounouchi said firmly. "I made it to the semi-finals of the Duellist Kingdom!"

"Oh, I know all about that," Rebecca dismissed. "First place when to Shokunin Hiei, with second place going to Muto Yugi. But who cares who came in second, let alone only making it to the _semi_-finals? It's only first place that really matters! Isn't that right, Teddy?" she asked, returning to cuddling her bear.

"But Rebecca, I'm confused. Why do you feel that being a national champion entitles you to a Blue Eyes White Dragon card?" Sugoroku asked.

"No, I don't think that," Rebecca clarified. "The Blue Eyes White Dragon card should be mine because you _stole_ it from me," she answered. Her voice was calm and direct.

Yugi took offence however. "Just wait a minute! No way. My grandfather? He'd never steal!" he objected.

"Well, there are only four Blue Eyes White Dragon cards in the world. Kaiba's got three, and my card is missing," Rebecca answered.

"Huh?" chorused Yugi, his friends, and his grandfather.

Harry, however, just tilted his head to the side and considered the girl a moment before turning to Sugoroku. "Muto-oji, how many years have you treasured that particular Blue Eyes?" he asked.

"Er... years, certainly..." he said, wondering why he was being asked.

Harry turned back to Rebecca. "How long have you been playing Duel Monsters?" he asked, a smile touching his lips. "I read that article too, now that I think back, and I recall that it said you had only been Duelling for _one month_. Your claim to any card that was held before you even started Duelling is blatantly fraudulent."

Rebecca grit her teeth and growled in frustration. "Fine!" she snapped. "Then I demand the right to Duel for it!" she said, pointing at Sugoroku.

"It won't do you any good to Duel Muto-oji," Harry twittered above her sweetly. "Kaiba Seto already did that. Muto-oji had to go to hospital from the shock of his first ever holographic battle after he lost."

Rebecca's sea-blue eyes went wide. "You mean that Kaiba has all _four_ Blue Eyes White Dragons?" she demanded.

"You won't Duel _him_ for a Blue Eyes?" Harry teased gently. "After all, he didn't make it past Muto-san in Duellist Kingdom, and you yourself said that nobody but the winners matter. Not that it _would_ make any difference really. Kaiba-kun is _very_ possessive of his Blue Eyes, and would show no mercy to someone challenging him over one of them. Then again, even _if_ you beat Kaiba-kun, you _still_ wouldn't get the _specific_ card that you are after, because Kaiba-kun didn't hold onto the Blue Eyes that he won from Muto-oji."

"Shokunin-san, please stop being dramatic," Anzu begged weakly, simultaneously trying to smother her own laughter, as this was a serious situation after all. Even if Harry _was_ making funny faces.

"Yeah," Honda said, throwing in his oar. "Don't tell me you don't want to Duel with her over _your_ Blue Eyes."

Sugoroku blinked up at Harry. This was, after all, the first definitive news he had regarding what had happened to that card after his Duel with Kaiba. No one had been able to tell him at the time, it's fate having completely escaped all of them in the theatrics of the moment.

"You have it?" Rebecca asked, pointing at Harry now.

"I think that _as_ the recently titled King of Games, I am an _appropriate_ person to hold an ultra-rare and powerful card that belongs only in the hands of a true champion," Harry said, throwing the little girl's words back at her. "Don't you?"

"What right do _you_ have to it?" Rebecca demanded, deeply and blatantly put out by this turn of events.

"I saved it from being torn up by Kaiba Seto," Harry answered, leaning down to look her directly in the face, "and when I offered to give it back, nobody present at the time claimed it, effectively giving up any claim _they_ had and giving it _to_ _me_. So, more claim than you."

"Duel me!" Rebecca ordered. "I challenge you! The winner takes the Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

"No."

For a moment, everybody who wasn't Harry blinked at the same time in stunned silence.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Rebecca demanded.

"I mean exactly that," Harry said. "I have no reason whatsoever, no need or motivation, to accept your challenge. Besides which, I think your only Duelling experience is on holographic arenas, you _have_ been Duelling for _only_ as long as they have been available for Duellists. The nearest holographic Duelling Arena is Kaiba Land, and I know for a fact that you need to book at least three months in advance to get access to such an arena unless you're taking part in a Kaiba Land demonstration or organised tournament."

And he knew because Seto, Mokuba and he had talked about these things on the boat-ride back from the island.

"Besides, I've got more important things to do than cater to an uppity little gaki. Hot bath, homework, board meetings," Harry said, waving his hand languidly in the air as he walked off.

"If you do not accept my challenge, then I'll go to all the papers and say that you're scared of Duelling me!" Rebecca yelled after him.

"I will counter with a public statement detailing this entire meeting," Harry answered, pausing to look over his shoulder at her. "Do you _want_ to be crucified for attempting to strong-arm people out of a card that was rightfully theirs? You won't have any supporters then. Not one. Especially when I'm now the owner of the company that _makes_ the Duel Monsters cards. Besides, if I did it would look like I was bullying you, even if you were the one to challenge me. I don't care for the hassle."

"Pip-squeak, take some free advice," Jounouchi said. "Don't challenge Shokunin-san. It will only end in tears, and it _won't_ be him that's cryin'."

Fortunately for all involved, Rebecca's grandfather – one Professor Hopkins and an old friend of Sugoroku's – showed up then to chastise his grandchild and take her home again. Well, he took her home after spending some time catching up with his old friend, but Harry wasn't around for that much, as he _did_ have all of those things he'd mentioned waiting for him in the near future.

~oOo~


	10. Chapter 10

Bathed and dressed once more, and with his many decks all neatly stashed in their pockets in his coat, Harry locked his doors, strapped down his suitcase, and hopped on his bike. He had a board meeting to attend with the Kaiba brothers and their treacherous company directors.

"What is your business in the Kaiba Building today Sir?" asked the girl at the front desk.

Harry smiled his best, most pleasant and winsome smile for her. "I have a meeting with Kaiba Seto, I promise I'm expected," he told her, even as he walked right past her desk and into the elevator. The doors dinged open several floors later, and he stepped out just a few beats behind Seto and Mokuba stepped out of the _other_ elevator.

"Mr Kaiba," greeted one of the directors hesitantly. "Uh... Welcome back Sir."

"What an unexpected surprise," added another.

"Yes, I'm sure it is, you treacherous snakes," Seto answered with a sneer as he stood in the doorway to his own conference room.

"Though I can't think why it _should_ be," Harry said as he stepped around them and pulled the directors out of their chairs, one by one. "You will all _stand_. Kaiba Seto will take his proper place of power, and you will _cower and beg for forgiveness_," he finished with a positively predatory snarl. It _may_ have been helped along by the Thief King. Just a little. He always leant a different quality to Harry's voice, and Bakura did _so_ enjoy intimidating idiots.

Seto took a seat once Harry had forced each of the older, larger men to stand between the conference table and the door. Mokuba sat on his right, Harry on his left, and Harry's suitcase was on the table to the left of Harry.

"You see," Seto started again once the stage of this confrontation had been re-arranged. "I know all about your partnership with Pegasus, and the scheme you had to take over my corporation."

"That's right," Mokuba put in, filled with righteous anger as only a child could be. "What you guys did was really messed up!"

"Not to mention _illegal_," Harry added, popping open the suitcase and taking out sheaves of papers. "It's all here you know. Records of conversations, plans, print-outs of emails exchanged, everything from who came up with the idea to hold Mokuba hostage to what _you_ intended to do with what Pegasus had _agreed_ to leave to you of the Kaiba Corporation."

"Working with that freak to get rid of my brother and me? You guys are sick!" Mokuba proclaimed.

Harry very carefully did _not_ react to the word 'freak' when he flew from Mokuba's lips.

"You're all fired," Seto informed them. "I _suggest_ you leave now, before I _really_ lose my temper, and take more from you than _just_ your jobs."

"He can do it too, just FYI," Harry added with a smirk. "We have proof here of each and every one of you being an accessory to kidnapping, attempted murder, fraud and attempted fraud, and even a few _goodies_ that Pegasus dug up for blackmail against each one of you, just in case he needed it. Personally? I really think that charges should be pressed _anyway_, it's not really _good_ for society in general to let scum like you just walk the streets, and it's not like any of you have a family you need the money to support."

"P-please, let us explain!" begged one of the men, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Pegasus gave us no choice!"

"Incorrect," Harry said, handing over one particular paper to Seto for his reading displeasure.

"This paper is a copy of the email that initiated everything, the proposal of the plan you all cooked up with Pegasus in the first place. The whole thing started with _you_," Seto informed them.

"Peggy was rather fixated on getting his late wife back, but he'd _never_ have thought of trying to do it with advanced holographic technology if _you_ hadn't approached him with the idea of kidnapping Mokuba in order to wrest Kaiba Corporation from Seto's control," Harry added, accepting back the incriminating paper and placing it once more onto the pile it had come from. "Peggy was so _sweet_ to hand over _all_ of the documents pertaining to your operation, but then, he _did_ promise to give me _anything_ if I beat him in a Duel. I sincerely doubt he expected me to want _everything_. Why, he even provided the back-up plans you insisted on making, just in case. You know, he didn't at _all_ appreciate you doubting him like that."

"And _I_ don't appreciate you tampering with my virtual reality pods and their game programs," Seto added.

"Is there some reason you're still here?" Mokuba asked. "Because I'm pretty sure I heard Seto _fire_ all of you," he pointed out, wiggling a finger in one ear to make sure it wasn't blocked.

"You did," Seto and Harry agreed at the same time.

Seto reached over to an intercom box and pressed down on the button that would get him the head of his security force. "Security, there are five men in the conference room who aren't taking their new status as 'fired from the Kaiba Corporation board of directors' very well. Please come and escort them _off_ the premises."

When the security detail arrived, Harry frowned as he recognised one of them. "You," he said, pointing calmly at one security goon who wore his hair in an even more ridiculous spike than Honda did. "I fired you once already from Industrial Illusions."

"He's also the one who grabbed _me_, back at the beginning," Mokuba added.

Seto nodded. "It looks like we'll be doing a security check of our security as well then," he commented. "You are _also_ fired."

That short sentence seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, as the security guard in question, as well as the entire quintet of conniving geezers, all charged the two teens and Mokuba (who was only eleven). Harry moved faster, or rather, his magic did.

Defence at his cram-school was, like every other subject there, wandless. A bit of will, a gesture, channel a bit of magic with intent and hey presto: invisible wall between the kids in charge and the adults who only _wanted_ to be.

For a brief moment, Harry toyed with the idea of introducing Seto to _real_ dragons, but quickly discarded it. Seto, and possibly Mokuba as well, would _want one_, and owning dragons as pets was illegal. He'd just have to do his best to keep the knowledge that they were really real from the Kaiba brothers.

~oOo~


	11. Chapter 11

"Here it is," Kaiba said quietly as he took his seat in the classroom beside Harry, holding out a Duel Monsters card for the other boy. "The Yellow Eyes Grey Dragon you wanted. Mokuba insisted that he be allowed to help design it, and was apparently rather inspired by that Egyptian guy who took the Millennium Eye back. He did the final picture that went onto the card."

Harry whistled in impressed approval as he looked at the card, and bit back a chuckle. It actually looked a lot like the Egyptian Stone Bellied Dragons he'd recently covered in his Magical Animals course for his cram-school.

"He's quite the artist then. How many are going to be made?" Harry asked.

"Seven," Kaiba answered. "There are ten Red Eyes in the world, four Blue Eyes, and you wanted the Yellow Eyes to be in between the two, so there are seven. Only five are going into general circulation though. That one's yours, and counted within the seven, and I'm keeping one for myself as well."

Harry nodded at the explanation. "Prizes for competitions, or random distribution in bumper packs?" he asked.

"Kaiba Land is having a Tournament next month for new Duellists only. The top four Duellists in that competition will each receive a Yellow Eyes to add to their decks as encouragement to keep playing," Kaiba answered.

Harry smirked. "And keep coming to Kaiba Land," he quipped. "And the last one?" he asked.

Kaiba's answering smirk was wickedly delighted. "A randomly selected _starter_ pack," was the answer he gave.

Harry chuckled. "Very nice," he praised quietly. "Starter packs cost more than the bumper packs because they've got more cards in them, but seasoned Duellists generally only buy the bumper packs, in hopes of getting something good for their decks without having to sort through a bunch of more common cards, or else they trade and we make no money at all. By announcing that the last available copy of a new, rare, and powerful card is in a _starter_ pack, profits _will_ go up as even the most established Duellists will scramble to get their hands on it."

Kaiba nodded. "I'm glad you approve," he said. "What I owe you is settled then?"

"Oh I do," Harry agreed with a smile, "and yes, it's settled."

From across the room, squealing girls could be heard all of a sudden, and the two teens turned to see what all the fuss was about.

"New kid," Kaiba noted, then promptly turned away, dismissing him.

"Competition," Harry corrected. "_That_ is Otogi Ryuji. He's opened a new game shop not far from Muto-san's. He's also the instigator of the game Dungeon Dice Monsters."

Kaiba scowled. "A fad," he said, disgusted. "Duel Monsters has been played for years, and hasn't waned in popularity in all that time. Dungeon Dice Monsters won't still have the attention of the masses in a month."

Harry chuckled. "Not least because of your Rookies Tournament at Kaiba Land that will draw in a new generation of Duellists," he commented slyly.

"Hn," Seto agreed with a smirk. "And he's not _our_ competition anyway. We sell the games to the shops, the shops sell the games to the masses. He's Muto's competition."

Harry's expression flattened out. "And what about his acquisition of holographic technology for _his_ game shop?" he asked. "Purchased from Kaiba Corporation of course, but _still_ an issue. Especially since his order had a few _extras_ in it to accommodate his new game. People are going to _have_ to go to him if they want to play his game with holographic technology."

Kaiba shrugged it off. "The new shop purchased enough parts for _one_ Duelling Arena only, with the special parts so that the one Arena could convert for the new game. He was charged heavily for the alterations and the installation of his single Arena. He won't be competing with Kaiba Land on any serious scale."

"No Jounouchi, it's a trick!" Yugi exclaimed, interrupting conversations – few as they were – around the room.

"I'll take that," Otogi said, picking up a dice from the table. "I moved the dice into my right hand without ever touching the cup," he explained smugly.

Beside him, Jounouchi was holding up a purple cup. It wasn't hard to figure out that the blonde had been duped.

"That makes me the winner," Otogi finished with a smile.

Now Jounouchi was turning a purple to match the cup he'd put back down on the table. "You are nothin' but a dirty, rotten, _con-artist_. If you were a _real_ man you'd play a real game! I challenge you to a match of Duel Monsters!" Jounouchi declared, striking what he no doubt believed to be an impressive pose.

Actually, he just looked like a dork.

"If it weren't so pathetic, it would be entertaining," Harry commented with a sigh. "Worse, people might start wondering if Otogi and I are related, because his eyes are almost as green as mine."

Seto could only laugh quietly at the whole thing.

"But I don't _have_ a Duel Monsters deck," Otogi answered with false sorrow.

"That's not _my_ problem," Jounouchi answered. "After all, _your_ the one with the new _game shop_."

"Stance?" Kaiba asked Harry as their classmates set terms for their Duel – that is, whole new decks, something which Yugi objected to as it would mean relying on luck a great deal more than skill.

"Otogi is too calm to have never Duelled before, even if he claims to have no deck. Katsuya is an idiot for agreeing to make a totally new deck just for one Duel. I may have several decks myself, but I am intimately familiar with each one, and so I do not suffer from the sudden confrontation of an unfamiliar card in my hand as Katsuya will," Harry said, dissecting the confrontation.

Harry shook his head in dismissal of the whole show. "Otogi will win. He's setting the terms and the cards will all be coming from _his_ game shop. What's to stop him from opening packets, sorting cards, and then re-sealing them?" Harry said.

"_What_?" yelled an offended, affronted Otogi, as well as an irate Jounouchi, who had both apparently heard that last bit Harry had said.

"Ne, Shokunin-san," one of the girls who had been crowding around Otogi said, approaching Harry now. "You don't _really_ think that Ryuji-kun would do such a thing, do you?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "I wouldn't have said it if I did not believe it at least possible," he answered her. "Otogi-san already tricked Katsuya-san once after all," he added with a dismissive shake of his head.

"Where do you get off saying stuff like that?" Otogi demanded.

"At my cram-school, I have a sensei who is fond of proverbs," Harry said, confusing all around him with his apparent digression. "One of his proverbs goes like this: beware a man who is fond of dice, for likely he keeps his own _loaded_," he said, pointing to Otogi's earring – which matched the little white cube he held in his hand.

Just about the entire room froze at the accusation as Harry lowered his hand and turned to Katsuya.

"If you wish to Duel, then you may do it in this room, right now," Harry said.

"Ryuji-kun already said he didn't have a deck!" objected one of the girls he had been impressing with dice tricks before.

"And they both agreed to use totally new decks for their Duel," added another. "They can't get those decks _now_!"

A valid enough objection. It _was_ only fifteen minutes until class started after all.

Jounouchi, for all that he was a bit thick sometimes, remembered that Harry had more than one deck, and always got his opponent to choose which deck he would Duel them with.

"I'll take lucky number seven, if you're getting at what I _think_ you're getting at," the blonde said with a smile.

"What?" Otogi asked, looking between Jounouchi and Harry in confusion.

Harry opened his bag – he couldn't fit all of his decks into his uniform jacket after all – and pulled out a deck of cards. "Deck number seven for Katsuya-san to Duel with. This is a _loan only_, Katsuya. I expect every card to be returned to me."

"Of course!" Jounouchi answered. "They're your cards."

Harry turned to Otogi. "A number between one and thirteen, not including seven as Katsuya-san has already selected it. You will Duel with my cards, and return the deck to me when your Duel is over," he informed his fellow teen.

"Shokunin-san, do you have a Duelling Mat in there as well? Because they can't Duel _here_ without one," Anzu pointed out.

Harry nodded. "I promised Ryou-san a friendly Duel when we had time after school," he explained as he pulled out the printed felt mat and nodded to the white-haired boy in question, who smiled in answer and held up his own deck, letting Harry know that he was also ready.

Otogi was just barely catching on, for all his smooth talking a moment ago. "Deck number... five," he decided at last.

Harry drew out that deck as well and set it on the table in front of him. "Same goes for you, Otogi-san. I am _loaning_ you this deck for this Duel only. When the Duel is over, I will have _every_ card back from you. Katsuya-san I warn because I can imagine him just slipping the deck into his pocket without even thinking about it afterwards. You, I neither know, nor trust, with my cards," Harry informed the other green-eyed teen, then lay out the Duelling Mat on his own desk so that he could watch everything that was done with his cards.

"You should both feel honoured," Kaiba informed them as chairs were brought up for the two to sit on while they Duelled. "Being permitted to use decks belonging to the King of Games, just to settle a petty argument."

Otogi actually scowled at that. "He's not the king of _every_ game," he grumbled.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I'm not. It's an exclusively Duel Monsters title," Harry answered simply. "Now _do_ get on with it. You have a limited amount of time in which to conduct this Duel. If you don't actually have a winner in fifteen minutes, then whoever has more life-points will be the declared winner. Alright?"

Both Jounouchi and Otogi nodded in agreement, and Harry set the two decks down on the Duelling mat in front of them. When he removed his hands, they took their first five cards and began the Duel.

The Duel didn't end before class had to begin, which Harry thought was rather pathetic and due entirely to their ridiculous grand-standing. Still, Jounouchi had more life-points to his credit when the Duel had to be halted, making him the winner, as per the set rules.

According to the bet the two of them made about ten seconds _into_ the Duel, Otogi would be closing down his game shop – Jounouchi's prize for 'winning'.

A development which had Kaiba smirking quietly at his desk throughout the rest of the school day. He'd be reclaiming the holographic technology from Otogi at a reduced price, as he wouldn't have a shop to keep it in now. With no shop, he would have no need for a Duelling Stadium, nor any way to make the expense viable within the next ten years. Having _one_ arena in Kaiba Land for Dungeon Dice Monsters wasn't going to be a problem really. Even a fad could make money after all, however distasteful Kaiba found them.

~oOo~

After school was over for the day, Harry and Ryou sat down to have a friendly little Duel. Of course, because Harry was the King of Games, there was a ready audience – and Otogi Ryuji was among them.

"Which deck do you want to face Ryou-san?" Harry asked.

Ryou chuckled. "Well, not number one," he answered happily. "I remember what it did to Para and Dox on the island. I'm not too keen on facing numbers five or seven after this morning's Duel between Jounouchi-san and Otogi-san either. All the same, I at least know some of what is in those decks now, and I've a better chance against them than a complete unknown. I'll choose deck number five," he decided at last.

Harry chuckled. "Because Otogi-san was losing with it earlier?" he asked, even as he took out the deck and handed it to Ryou to shuffle.

"In part," Ryou admitted, smiling a little sheepishly as he did a quick shuffle. "But also because I recognised more of the monsters in that deck, and I know more about how to combat them," he said as he passed the deck back to its owner.

Harry nodded, and the Duel began. It was ten minutes before it was over.

Ryou laughed. "Well, that was unexpected," he said with a smile. "The King of Games wins again, though. I admit that I _am_ rather pleased," he added. "I lasted longer that Pegasus did against you after all."

"Yes, well, Pegasus was used to _cheating_ at his own game, rather than playing it," Harry commented lightly. "You're very good Ryou-san. You almost had me a few times there. Thank you for this Duel," he said, smiling for the only other student in the school who had, like Harry, come from England.

"Oh it was my pleasure," Ryou insisted, a smile of his own in place.

"King of Games," Otogi growled out through gritted teeth. "How can you be called King of Games when _you cheated to win_?"

"How could I have cheated, Otogi-san?" Harry asked coldly. "I couldn't even see my _own_ cards in that Duel, I couldn't _possibly_ have cheated." Never mind he'd arranged Pegasus' deck during the shuffle before the Duel.

"I don't know, but I'm absolutely certain that you did!" Otogi snapped. "And to prove it, I challenge you to Dungeon Dice Monsters. If I've got to close down my shop," he sneered at Jounouchi as he said that, "then I'm at least going to prove you're not as great as you claim before I do!"

Harry's bright green eyes were chips of ice as he locked gazes with Otogi Ryu. Time stretched with neither set of bright green eyes so much as twitching. Whispers sprung up around them, wondering if Shokunin-san would accept the challenge that had been levelled at him by the new and attractive student.

Harry, for his part, had silently cast the spell for mind-reading, legillimens, and was rifling through the process that Otogi had gone through in order to create the game. The rules, the tricks, the helps, the loopholes, the objectives, everything.

It wasn't cheating to know the rules of a game before agreeing to play it after all. Even Otogi knew _how_ to play Duel Monsters before he'd agreed to Duel Jounouchi, even if he _didn't_ have a deck of his own.

"In the event that you loose at this game that you invented," Harry said, finally breaking the silence between himself and Otogi. "And don't scoff at the idea, Otogi-san. Beginners luck is a very real thing. If I win, then you will _give_ your shop's private Duelling Arena to Kaiba Land, and rights to your game to _me_."

"And _when_ I win," Otogi answered, "I'll be King of Games, I'll use video footage of our Duel to promote my game, and _you_ will _never Duel again_."

Harry nodded. "If you like," he agreed. "Now, I'm going to have a bath first, and I have homework to do," he said, standing from his seat. "And you have camera crews to organise I'm sure, not to mention a closing-down sale at your brand new shop. I will see you in front of your shop at five for this Duel," Harry said, nodded to Otogi and the rest of the students in the room, and headed for the door.

"I'd ask what you're thinking, Shokunin, risking your title over a game you've never played before," Kaiba said as he joined Harry in walking down the halls. "But that would sound like I was doubting you, and frankly, I know better than to do that."

Harry smiled and hummed agreement. "Personally, I think that Otogi's game is too complex to _properly_ catch on, though we should take another opinion on that," Harry said. "And it _will_ be harder to win than my Duel against Pegasus, simply because the game is harder. All the same, you'll be getting the arena for free. Will you and Mokuba come and watch?" he asked.

Kaiba nodded. "We'll be there," he promised.

~oOo~


	12. Chapter 12

"Looks a bit different to a Duelling Arena, huh?" Otogi taunted. "Better get used to it," he continued viciously. "Dungeon Dice Monsters is a whole new game with a whole new set of rules, and if you want to _keep up_ you're going to have to pay close attention."

Harry rolled his eyes and held up a game-guide that he'd bought on his way in. "Duh," he said plainly. "Lucky me though, even your game-guides and rule books were going cheap in your closing down sale."

Otogi laughed. "You're really going to need that," he commented, still smug even at the mention of his shop closing down just beyond the doors of the stadium. "Because I know this game inside and out and if you want to even have a chance of winning, then you're going to have to learn it as well. Now let's get started!"

Beyond that point, Harry didn't speak unless it was required within the game, and unlike Duel Monsters where actions could be determined just by the lay of the cards, some spoken orders _were_ required to make the monsters do anything. Otogi was pleased to posture though, and particularly took joy in preening for the three girls he'd charmed so thoroughly that they'd organised _themselves_ to be his cheerleaders. Matching outfits, pompoms, dumb little cheer-phrases and all, even with practically no notice.

Every time Otogi took the time to run his mouth off, Harry took _his_ time to consider the console, the book he'd bought, quietly just made his move while Otogi wasn't looking, or looked deliberately bored and made a fake mouth with his hand, to which he mimed "blah, blah, blah" or "yap, yap, yap".

It was made clear to all those watching him, either on some television set, big screen in the shop above, or those who had come to watch _him_ in this match rather than Otogi (this included Yugi and his friends as well as the Kaiba brothers), that Harry was both taking the game seriously, and _bored_.

The Duel would have been over in half the time if Otogi had talked less. Not that the result would have been any different. Harry still won. Having known all the rules, loopholes, tricks and traps before hand just meant that he didn't have to come from _behind_ to make that win.

"Well Mokuba," Harry said as he stepped off the platform he'd been Duelling from. "What did _you_ think of the game?"

Seto also tilted his head to give his little brother his full attention, interested to hear as well. He may have declared the game a fad that morning, but he hadn't really known anything about it beyond that it was new and being sold as 'new and exciting' in the equally new game shop. Mokuba was their final word on whether a game was worth mass production, as he was within the bracket of _most_ of their target audience.

Mokuba smiled and gave a thumb's up. "It may not become as big or last as long as Duel Monsters has, but it's a good game," the kid decided.

Harry nodded and headed over to Otogi.

"Rights for this game now belong to me," Harry informed him calmly, "and this arena is going to Kaiba Land."

Otogi sighed, slumping. "What does it matter? Industrial Illusions will _never_ pick it up now," he sighed. "I figured if I could bring you down, Pegasus would pick me up."

Harry chuckled. "You clearly aren't up with the latest," he said. "Pegasus isn't in charge of Industrial Illusions any more. He's still part of the art department within it, he's an exceptional painter after all, but he doesn't have the authority to pick up new games."

Otogi blinked in surprise. "Why wasn't that in the papers?" he asked, confused. "If Industrial Illusions changed hands, then I don't even know who to appeal to about the game. Not that it even matters now."

Harry smirked. "Industrial Illusions is pleased to inform the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters that we will be marketing this new game globally, and furthermore, we are interested in hiring the creator for our New Games division, where various creative minds work together to make new games which can be released around the world," he said, extending a hand for Otogi to shake.

"You?" Otogi asked, stunned. "You're in charge of Industrial Illusions now?"

Harry nodded. "And while I admit to not being _personally_ entertained very much by your game, or by your accusing me of being a cheater, various other individuals within the target audience seem _quite_ enthused with at least the former," he said, gesturing to where Honda, Jounouchi, Yugi and Anzu were making excited noises.

Otogi smiled and placed his hand in Harry's. "Thank you, Shokunin-san. I'm sorry for calling you a cheater. I was wrong."

~oOo~

"We've seen some great Duelling," Harry said into the microphone as he stood in the middle of a Duelling Arena in Kaiba Land. "And we've seen some fatal mistakes, but most importantly for _this_ event, we've gotten to see new talent, and see Duellists getting better with each new confrontation. At the end of this, Kaiba Land's first ever beginners-only Duelling Tournament, the Kaiba Corporation and Industrial Illusions would like to present to the top four Duellists a new card: the Yellow Eyes Grey Dragon. Only seven of these exist in the world. There is one in my deck, one in the deck of Kaiba Seto, these four, and the one remaining?" Harry called out to everybody, knowing that they all wanted to know where the last card could possibly be found, or how they could win it.

Seto stepped up then with his own microphone. "The last remaining Yellow Eyes Grey Dragon has been placed into a random starter pack of Duel Monsters cards. Like these four here today, another lucky beginner may get their hands on this new and rare card."

There was practically a stampede to get out of Kaiba Land and to the game shop, and Harry couldn't help but laugh, a sentiment echoed by the Thief King in the back of his mind.

"Well done you four," Harry said, bending down to look the four young winners in the eye. "You did well, but don't go getting a swelled head, alright? You're top rookies, but you're still rookies. Keep playing, I'm sure you'll all do just fine. Maybe we'll even see you all on the professional circuit some day," he said with a wink. "You can make us regret ever giving you those cards, you'll get so good."

The kids – and they were all just kids, about Mokuba's age or a bit younger – blushed at the praise and attention from the King of Games.

"I'll practice every day!" one kid promised.

"Me too!" agreed the second, and the other cute little heads bobbled up and down in agreement.

Harry laughed happily. "That's great," he enthused. "And if you take care of the Yellow Eyes, then he'll take care of you too. There's more to this game than just power after all, but I'm sure you all knew that already."

Again, the kids blushed at the praise.

"Now go on kids, I think your families are all waiting to congratulate you," Harry said, waving them off fondly.

"I can't _wait_ to show my big brother this awesome new card I won!" yelled one of the kids as he ran off.

"And my big sister is gonna be _so_ jealous that I met the King of Games!" yelled another.

Harry chuckled to see them go.

"You're good with kids, Shokunin," Kaiba said. "If anyone can inspire a new generation of Duellists, then I'd bet money it's you."

"Stop, I'm blushing," Harry quipped as he lightly punched Seto in the shoulder. He wasn't blushing of course, and Seto just laughed. "Just because the only kid _you're_ good with is Mokuba," Harry grouched good-naturedly.

"Shokunin!"

Harry turned towards the door where his name had been yelled from. It was Yugi.

"Muto-san, is something the matter?" he asked. "Your grandfather hasn't been trampled by customers I hope, we _did_ just send rather a lot his way."

Yugi shook his head. "Grandpa _should_ be fine, he's got the counter between him and the stampeding customers after all. It's the spirit of the Puzzle," the shorter boy said, holding up the upside-down pyramid of gold that was hanging from his neck. "It says that something is coming, but it doesn't know what, and there's so much of his past that he doesn't even remember, so I'm worried. I was wondering if you could help me out a bit? You _did_ say you wanted me to understand it better, and I've been trying, but it's hard when even _he_ doesn't know all that much about himself and the power of the Puzzle."

"Shokunin, I'm going to head back to the Kaiba Building," Seto said, excusing himself. He wasn't all that keen on Yugi's company still.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, okay. I'll see you tomorrow Seto," he said, waving as his business partner and classmate left, then turned back to Yugi. Looking down at the boy with the crazy hair, he couldn't help the sigh that escaped him. "Alright," he said. "You've learnt more about how to _use_ the Puzzle at least? Even if you're still confused about the spirit?" he asked.

Yugi nodded. "Mostly through trial and error though."

"Have you tried making a list of everything you know? About the Millennium Items, the spirit of the Puzzle, that sort of thing," Harry suggested. "You may find that you know more than you realise, if you just think about it."

Yugi brought a hand up to his chin in though, a frown marring his features as he did, in fact, think about it. "Alright," Yugi said slowly at last. "I'll make that list, and then, if I'm still stuck, will you help me out?" he asked.

Harry nodded. "Talk to your grandfather as well, he's done some digging in Egypt, and that's where the Items come from. He may be able to give you more insight," Harry advised.

"Thank you, Shokunin-san," Yugi said, a relieved smile lighting up his features. "I'm still worried about what the spirit says he can feel coming, but I have something that I can do now."

Harry watched Yugi run off again with a smile. It fell when the boy was out of sight though, and he apparated out to his own home.

"'Something coming', huh?" Harry asked quietly into his empty lounge room. Silently, Harry summoned all of his cards into the air around him, all facing away from him so that Harry could see only their backs. "Better than the Tarot, if you know how," Harry commented softly.

"And I know how," the Thief King finished as he took charge of Harry's body, so that he could do the reading his host wanted.

The cards fell, shuffling themselves into one large, neat deck, and one by one, the Thief King removed them from the pile and arranged them on the table. It was a point of amusement between the two of them, that while Harry could make his way around the world with his eyes shut if he wanted to – and in the past, when someone had stolen his glasses, he'd _needed_ to – he was absolutely pants at divining the future. Bakura, on the other hand, was particularly gifted in this, even if he had problems comprehending what was going on around Harry some days. Teen-aged day-to-day interaction was just confusing for the ancient spirit.

The Thief King laid out ten cards in a pyramid, then let Harry settle the rest of his cards back into their usual decks before he resumed the reading.

"This card," he spoke aloud, his hand hovering over the card that was the top of the pyramid. He didn't need to speak out loud, Harry could hear him anyway. Fortune telling just felt more right when being orated. "Is the premise. It is through this card that all the others will be understood."

One after another, the Thief King turned up the cards he had laid out in the Tetractys spread. After the foundation card at the top were the cards of Light and Dark, then the cards of the Creator, the Sustainer, and the Destroyer. The final row were indicative of the elements: fire, air, water and earth.

"So basically," Harry said as the Thief King returned his body to him. "We can expect a new psycho to show up with _one_ Item, and after the rest of them for less wholesome reasons than we wanted the Eye for."

"And they're after Muto," the Thief King reminded his host. "Famous as you are, _my_ existence has escaped notice rather well. Muto, on the other hand, has his Puzzle on display for the world and all it's crooks to see."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Still, I'm a bit upset with Shadi. A new idiot with an Item means he's not doing any better a job at guarding the Items _now_ than he was when he gave the Eye to Peggy," Harry said. With a sigh, he leant forward and rested his weight on his knees. "Think maybe I should call it back? It's mine by right of Shadow Game after all."

"We've already put regular eyes in that teddy bear," the Thief King commented with a small amount of genuine humour. "But yes, I _do_ think you should get it back. This card," he gestured to the Puppet Master that had been turned up in the Light spot, "has me worried. Bad enough it showed up at all, but in the place that indicates the influence of the cosmos that will lead to individual action? Definitely not good."

"Agreed," Harry said firmly, and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "Okay, Muto-san has the Puzzle. I've got the Ring and -" Harry paused to draw lines in the air with his right hand, leaving trails of light behind. When he was done, the lines all burned up and in a flash, the Millennium Eye dropped out of thin air and into Harry's hand. "- and the Eye. Man, _that_ took a bit out of me," he commented with a weak laugh and a tired smile. "Shadi has the Key, which leaves unknown and unaccounted for, what?"

"The Rod that was held by High Priest Seto, the Pharaoh's cousin," answered the Thief King. "It's the most likely reason the Puppet Master showed up. It can control other people at the will of the one holding it. There's also the Necklace, which would give even someone with _no_ skill in divination a pile of 'visions', not to mention let them inflict 'visions' on other people, and the Scale."

"Do I want to ask?" Harry questioned, even as he stuffed the Eye into one of his pockets.

"You know your mythology, Landlord," the Thief King said, trying to dance cheerfully around the answer. "What were scales used for in Egyptian lore?"

Harry blanched. "The judgement of the dead," he breathed, green eyes wide behind his glasses.

"Correct," Bakura answered. "The Millennium Scales work in exactly the same way as the scales held by Anubis, judging lies, sins, and fears as they are weighed against the feather of truth. If the heart is heavy with these things, the feather rises, and Osiris, the judge, delivers punishment."

"At least, for the _real_ scales. The Millennium Scales, on the other hand? I suspect that judgement would be delivered by whoever holds them. Likely a person far _less_ impartial than the two great gods of ancient Egypt," Harry quipped.

"Likely," the Thief King agreed, though there was an edge to his tone that indicated he thought that a rather gross understatement. "And the 'Ammit' summoned by such a judge would be a monster of the Shadow Realm."

Harry hummed his concerned agreement. "Well, your majesty of thieves," Harry said, pushing himself out of his chair and collecting up the cards from the table in front of him. "Shall we warn and help the Pharaoh? I'm not keen on the end of the world happening just yet after all."

"Certainly, your majesty of games," the Thief King answered with equal levity.

"Hang on," Harry said, halting as his hand gripped the handle of his front door. "High Priest Seto? Bakura, _please_ tell me that's just a coincidence?"

"It _might_ be," the Thief King allowed. "If you want certainties though, you want to check with the Necklace. It _will_ let you see into the distant past after all, as well as, ya know, make _fake_ visions of past and future that you can show other people just as easily as real ones."

Harry sighed and turned his back on the door. "You know what? It can wait until tomorrow. I'm going to get an early night."

~oOo~


	13. Chapter 13

"Why do you waste your time on those losers?" Kaiba grumbled as he and Harry shared lunch together.

"Don't tell me you're jealous?" Harry teased with a smile.

Seto scowled in answer.

"You don't have to be you know," Harry continued happily, leaning into Seto's personal space just a bit – which was enough to cause Seto's scowl to further deepen, though he was much to proud to back away from Harry. Slowly, they _were_ actually becoming friends, odd as their friendship was.

"I _promise_," Harry purred, fighting to keep a straight face. "I won't tempt Muto-san away from you."

"What?" Seto just about yelped, except of course that his voice wouldn't ever be high enough for him to really yelp, but it was as close as he'd ever get.

"I'm just helping him figure out that he _is_ actually smart enough to be worthy of you, without the help of his Puzzle," Harry said, having to close his eyes so that he didn't bust his gut from laughing at the expression on Seto's face. "I know you wouldn't like it if he had to rely on _it_ for everything after all."

"To rely on _anything_ other than yourself is weak," Seto agreed, then scowled. "I do _not_ want Muto Yugi!"

He couldn't hold it in any more, and the laughter burst forth, wild and free and unstoppable until it had run its course and left Harry having to breathe deeply to make up for not having been able to a moment ago. There were even tears in his eyes he'd been laughing so hard.

"The look on your face," Harry said as he wiped the tears away. "But I'm serious," he said, once he was properly calmed down. "I'm just making sure that Muto-san doesn't _need_ his Puzzle. It's made of pure gold after all, any thug would want it just for that, and there's a lot more to the Puzzle than just its material worth."

Seto grunted, agreeing to the point but _very_ put out by Harry's joking around.

After school was over, Harry stood from his seat and he glanced over at Yugi. The boy made excuses to his friends and hurried over to his green-eyed classmate. Together, they left the classroom and the school grounds, which caused some confusion among Yugi's other friends.

Harry and Yugi head to the Kame Game shop, then up the back stairs to where Yugi and his grandfather lived above the shop, and into Yugi's own room. They are _here_, rather than Harry's house, because the familiar environment should give some level of security and comfort to Yugi, and _that_ would help with what Harry intended to help him do.

"So, what exactly are we going to do?" Yugi asked as he sat down, cross-legged, on his bed.

Harry sat down further down the shorter teen's bed, mirroring his posture and taking his Ring out from beneath his shirt. "The Millennium Items known as the Eye and the Key both grant to their wielder the power to see into the mind or soul of the person being subjected to them. The Eye looks in from the outside, without the owner ever entering your mind. The Key actually allows its holder to totally enter the mind of another. The difference between looking through a window and entering through a door."

Yugi nodded his understanding of this metaphor, and Harry continued.

"In ancient times, when they were made, it was through the use of these Items alone that these feats were possible. Since then, other magical practitioners have learned how to do these things, and how to block such assaults, without them. These days, to be able to search the mind of another is called Legillimency, and the ability to block others from reading into your mind is called Occlumency. I will cast the spell for Legillimency, and that will let me into your mind," he explained.

"Like Shadi did with his Key," Yugi said.

Harry nodded. "And you will be there, because it is your mind, and _he_ will be there," Harry said, pointing to the Puzzle that hung from Yugi's neck. "Because he is part of your mind now, just as the spirit of the Ring will be there as part of me."

If this had been happening four months ago, that would have been risky. The Thief King wasn't keen on the Pharaoh after all, and for a legitimate reason. If it had been four _years_ ago, it would have been an outright _bad idea_. It had taken a lot of work on the part of his curious teachers at his cram-school – all of whom had been bound with secrecy oaths – to remove the _other_ spirit, the truly malicious spirit, that had also attached itself to the ring. The spirit of Zorc, which had thankfully been resting, dormant, for so many years. But that would have been an unmitigated disaster. Now? Bakura might sneer at the Pharaoh a bit, be a little shirty, but there wouldn't be any attempt at violence on his part.

"Then what?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know," Harry answered, to Yugi's surprise. "I don't know, because I don't know what it's like in your mind. The aim is to tidy up, organise, mend, find lost memories, that sort of thing, but I won't know how we go about doing that until I'm in there -" Harry tapped Yugi's forehead for emphasis, "- and can see what it all looks like."

Yugi nodded his understanding, took a deep breath, and nodded his readiness.

Harry cast the spell.

~oOo~

Harry stood, with Bakura at his side and the Ring hanging around his own neck rather than the neck of the Thief King, in a hallway with two doors. One door is open and Harry didn't even need to crane his neck to see that the floor is scattered with toys. The other door is closed and ominous in a way that is similar to – but more regal than – Bakura's presence within Harry's own mind.

Harry goes to the open door first, knocking on the door-frame and not setting foot within.

"Shokunin-san!" Yugi greeted with a smile. "It worked?"

Harry nodded. "This is your mind, and that," Harry said, turning to face the other door, "is the mind of the spirit of the Puzzle."

"And, who is that with you?" Yugi asked, peering around Harry to see the Thief King.

"Bakura, King of Thieves, tomb raider, and ancient spirit of the Millennium Ring," the dark-skinned, grey-eyed phantom said, introducing himself grandly.

Yugi's eyes, normally large, bugged out at this introduction before he stammered a 'pleased to meet you' and stepped out of his Soul Room properly.

Harry moved to stand in front of the _other_ door in Yugi's mind, and knocked. It opened under his touch.

"It's alright," called the spirit of the Puzzle from within. "You may enter my chamber, if that is what you desire, but I warn you: tread cautiously. I will allow no harm to come to the boy who's vessel I share."

"You mean... _this_ boy?" Harry asked, stepping aside and showing Yugi to the spirit.

Yugi waved, perhaps a little sheepishly, to the other presence that lived within him.

"Yugi!" the spirit yelled, worry suddenly present on his features as he dashed forward to the boy.

"Calm down, your majesty," Bakura said with a slightly sarcastic lilt. "We come in peace. Heck, we come on a mission to help you remember all the stuff the shrimp here says you forgot."

"Civility, however insincere, and a cessation of overt hostility, Bakura," Harry reminded his companion. "That was the deal you agreed to. I know better than to entertain the idea of you ever becoming friends, but do be nice anyway?"

The Thief King sighed, but nodded.

"They're really here to help, Yami," Yugi assured the spirit.

The spirit of the Puzzle sighed. "Very well," he allowed, though he didn't move away from Yugi at all.

"The key to remembering forgotten things will be in your subconscious," Harry said, taking charge of the situation with a business-like air. "Are you able to grant access yourself, or must we search for it?"

"I can open that door for you," the spirit agreed, and with a snap of his fingers the room beyond the door – where they all still stood – changed.

Harry nodded. "This is going to take a while," he said as he looked around the maze of stairs and doors.

"Except that you've still got homework to do tonight," Bakura quipped.

Harry nodded in agreement and raised the Ring, eyes closed as he formed the thought of what he was seeking so that the Ring could guide them. Doing this with magic, rather than without, would speed up the process a great deal.

"You're coming too," Bakura said to the other spirit. "It's _you_ we're helping after all, and I'm sure you'd like to be on hand so remember things for yourself."

"That _is_ interesting," Harry said with a smile as he stepped up to a blank wall. He lay his hand over it and gently pushed. The wall shifted back, then to the side, and a new corridor opened out.

"This is the same corridor that I saw with Shadi before..." Yugi commented, looking up at all the stone tablets with Duel Monsters carved into them.

"That one," Bakura said quietly, pointing to the tablet that held the Dark Magician. "He had the Ring before me. Mahad."

"Mahad?" the spirit of the Puzzle exclaimed. "I know that name! But why can't I remember?"

Bakura snorted in disgust. "Damn Pharaoh," he scoffed. "Not remembering his most loyal subjects when they sacrifice themselves for him."

Harry didn't scold the Thief King about manners again. He was rather of the same opinion.

"Shadi said something about the Dark Magician being loyal _only_ to his Pharaoh," Yugi recalled quietly.

Harry stepped up to stand in front of the stone tablet, and took off the Ring that was hanging around his neck. "Can you remember who you _used_ to be, Dark Magician?" he asked the tablet, holding the Ring up before the figure there.

A hand came forth, tanned and with bands of gold appearing with the wrist. It wasn't the hand of the monster, but of the man he had once been. Slowly, the rest of the man followed until he stood before them, and when he saw Yugi and the spirit of the Puzzle, he knelt before them.

"Your soul remembers our friendship, my Pharaoh, even if your mind has forgotten," the tall man said from where he was bent before the two much shorter figures.

"Honourable Mahad," Harry said from behind him. "It has been centuries, and much has been forgotten. Will you guide your Pharaoh to remember what he has forgotten of himself? Will you aid Muto Yugi in the lessons he must learn?"

Mahad stood and turned his attention to Harry and Bakura. "Will you not? You bear the Ring, as I once did. To guide is the responsibility of those who hold it," the spectral memory, called forth by Harry and the Ring, asked.

Harry shook his head. "I cannot be at their side so often, though I do sometimes offer guidance where I can. You are a memory re-awakened within, and can aid them both far better than I can," he answered.

Mahad nodded. "I _am_ a memory," he said. "And a guard. I shall guide as well as I can."

Harry nodded and turned to Yugi. "Then I'll show myself out. Having others be in your head isn't a good thing for you, and _being_ in your head isn't a good thing for me. Not really. Do you know how to remain here by your own choosing?"

Yugi's expression fell into one of unsure concern, then the spirit of the Puzzle lay a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know," he answered. "Thank you for your help."

Harry nodded and turned to leave.

"Be careful of your own booby-traps," Bakura called happily as he followed Harry out of the Pharaoh's mind, clearly entertained by the idea of the Pharaoh being squished up something he'd set up himself.

Harry smiled, back in his own body and mind, as he got up from the bed where Yugi remained, still as ever, exploring within his own mind. Harry didn't touch him, and just let himself out, waving to Sugoroku as he passed the old man.

"He'd just better not become unbearable," the Thief King commented within Harry's mind as they walked back to Harry's home. "Yugi's an alright kid. I'd hate to see him get a swelled head from being so closely associated with the damn Pharaoh."

"I'm sure he'll be just the same as he ever was," Harry answered with a quiet chuckle.

~oOo~


	14. Chapter 14

Harry turned on the television as he flopped down into his favourite chair. What he saw when the picture came up shocked him, and in no small part because of the exclamation of the Thief King within him.

"That's the bloody _Necklace_!" the spirit yelled. "And she's just wearing in it plain sight on national TV?"

Harry's relaxed posture immediately shifted into a far more attentive one as he listened to what this Ishizu Ishtar had to say. The part about the ancient games was no surprise to him. He'd known that already from Bakura. When she spoke of personally inviting Kaiba Seto to a private exhibition that evening, Harry frowned. He and Bakura had already talked about High Priest Seto of the Pharaoh's court, and the possibility of some connection with Kaiba Seto – something that could only be looked at properly through use of the Millennium Necklace.

"Looks like we're gate-crashing," Harry commented, getting up from his chair and turning off the TV again.

"Goody," the Thief King purred.

Harry quickly washed, and changed out of his school uniform into something a bit more high-brow-ish, then popped himself over to the Domino Museum. He only had to wait five minutes before Seto arrived.

"Keep the engine running," he instructed his chauffeur. "I won't be long."

"I wouldn't count on that," Harry quipped as he stepped out of the shadows that he had been waiting in.

"Shokunin," Kaiba greeted. "You were invited to this too?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm gate-crashing," he corrected. "But when a woman wearing a Millennium Item on the TV promises to change the life forever of someone I consider, even in the loosest sense of the word, a friend..." Harry trailed off, letting Kaiba and his brilliant brain figure the rest out.

He nodded. "I get it, you're my mumbo-jumbo interpretor and back-up," he said, then turned back to his driver. "Might as well park it then."

The man nodded and got back into the car.

"I'm also going to make sure I'm not recognised," Harry said quietly. "Simple glamour, but it will be effective."

Kaiba nodded, and the two of them walked into the building.

"Thank you for coming, Kaiba Seto," greeted the woman. "Though this is a _private_ exhibition, and you _were_ the only one invited. Which leaves me curious about the presence of your companion?"

"You expect a big-shot like Kaiba-sama to be unguarded around strangers?" Harry returned, playing on the fact that, like the turbaned men who were with Miss Ishtar, Harry was _also_ wearing a grey suit, though he'd forgone the tie. Ever since the Thief King's first comment about them being an easy way to get someone in a choke-hold, Harry hadn't gone near the things.

Kaiba, fortunately for Harry's act and probably mostly thanks to the warning, didn't so much as twitch. All that time spent in his company had clearly acclimated the boy to hearing random things spew from Harry's mouth. This time, it just happened to be a useful lie. Besides, he knew perfectly well that Harry _could_ defend them both – with his magic.

The woman's eyes narrowed, but she made no further objections. "Well, it shouldn't make conducting business any more difficult."

"All the entrances are locked," announced one of the turbaned security men. "Nobody will be going in or out."

"Regardless of _that_," Kaiba said. "I suggest you talk _fast_ or I'll be leaving. I'm already bored, and I have a business to run."

"Forgive us, but we have faced a string of thefts and have to be careful. Really Kaiba Seto-san, it would be in your best interests to see what we have to offer," Ms Ishtar said firmly, though her voice was still soft.

"Really now?" Kaiba said, a sneer touching the corner of his mouth. "And how do _you_ know what's best for _me_?"

Harry knew that tone. He used it himself when adults started butting into his life without permission. He – and Kaiba – had been taking care of their own business quite successfully for _some time_ by now. Neither of them appreciated this sort of attitude. Especially from total strangers.

"Please, come this way," Ms Ishtar said, turning and walking away.

"Kaiba, do you believe in destiny?" she asked when the three of them were a way down another hall.

"Does it matter?" he rebutted.

"He doesn't," Harry clarified, "but you're going to go on about it anyway, aren't you?"

Ishizu narrowed her eyes at Harry again. "You're not his security detail. Security details do not speak so freely."

"He's security alright," Kaiba countered. "But not in the manner _you_ are used to."

"You were monologuing?" Harry prompted.

"Ancient Egyptians thought that the true path of one's life was pre-determined, because history repeats itself throughout the ages in a never-ending circle," the woman said, turning her face forwards again as they walked.

"That might have something to do with there being a new war to fight every Pharaoh or two," Harry quipped. "Not a lot of variety in their history, easy theory to postulate."

"They would have said that it was not your choice to come here, for it was destined that the two of us would meet," she continued, and irritation was beginning to creep into her voice. Harry's presence was clearly unwelcome.

"Perhaps you missed it the first time," Kaiba said, "but I don't believe in fate or that sort of thing, and I sure as hell didn't come here for Egyptian History 101. I _came_ here because you said it would be worth my time. Instead, I find that you're just wasting it. If you have a point you're trying to make, I suggest that you get to it. I've said it once already: I've got a company to run."

"You came because I promised you a card that was more powerful than Exodia," Ishizu said.

"Something I am convinced is a lie," Kaiba answered. "I know everything about Duel Monsters and there isn't _any_ card that can stop Exodia."

"Not that was released anyway," Harry added darkly, catching Seto's eye. "Peggy mentioned three cards that were a _mistake_ to make, remember?"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed as he looked at Harry as he thought back, then looked back to Ms Ishtar. "I am to believe," he said, "that _you_ have the 'god cards' that Pegasus had _buried_, of all things?"

"Had," Ishizu admitted. "Recently, they were stolen from their hiding places."

"Theft seems to be a popular hobby these days," Harry quipped quietly, his voice wry as his thoughts went to the Thief King.

"Nothing to do with me!" the spirit protested within Harry's mind.

"I know," Harry answered silently. "I'm just generally amused."

"Duel Monsters is based on a five-thousand year old game," Ms Ishtar said. "It was played by ancient Egyptians for _power_ and was _extremely_ dangerous."

"Knew that," Harry commented.

"If you will follow me? I will show you the reason that I called you here," Ishizu said, gesturing down another hallway, and a set of stairs. "I have secured the most precious artefacts here. We've recovered stone carvings that depict the earliest game playing in Egypt. I'm sure you will find it most familiar," she continued, stopping at last by a large doorway. "Kaiba, behold the origin of Duel Monsters."

"Theatrics always make things take longer," Harry commented in a low, quiet tone as he walked with Kaiba into the next room.

The lights came up as they both stood in front of the first display.

"It can't be," Kaiba exclaimed, shocked. "These carvings look like Duel Monster cards! Then that means that your story is -"

"Substantiated, but not proven," Harry cut in. "Archaeology is the art of educated speculation based on recovered artefacts and contextualisation with surviving records. Professor Hopkins was laughed off when he made the same claims several years ago that you are making now. Pegasus spent a lot of time in Egypt dealing with the passing of his wife. What's to say that he didn't see these pictures and decide to totally re-invent them? Some of the Monsters may have come from here, but I'll bet money he came up with a _whole_ lot more on his own. This proves no relation, except to reveal part of the man's inspiration."

Seto breathed deeply and calmed then, nodding his agreement. Harry's arguments were logical, sound, and valid. The brown-haired youth let the shock and awe slip away from him. No one would trick him into thinking what they _wanted_ him too.

Harry, on the other hand, while he had stated facts, also knew that – to an extent at least – Ishizu Ishtar's story was just as valid. He knew because the Thief King had been able to give him a first-hand account of the time.

"There is a theory that in ancient times these monsters were real. Egyptian sorcerers summoned monsters to Earth to do their bidding, but they soon realised that the monsters could not be controlled. They destroyed countless villages and brought Earth to the brink of destruction. The citizens turned to the Pharaoh for help. Though he could not permanently defeat the monsters, he managed to use his magic to seal them in stone tablets and brought peace to the world. However, over time, evil sorcerers learned how to control the monsters and released them from the tablets," Ms Ishtar said, standing behind them. "With their army of monsters, the sorcerers were confident that no-one could stand in their way. They betrayed the Pharaoh and waged an all-out war against him."

"A highly elaborate theory," Harry noted with quiet scepticism.

The woman ignored Harry's comment, if she heard it, and walked over to the next display, just as large as the first. "This is the one you _must_ look at," she said. "This is the reason I called you here tonight. It depicts one of the main conflicts in the war between the Pharaoh and his greatest opponent. Closely examine this artefact. After this moment, Kaiba, your life will never be the same."

"That's the Pharaoh?" Seto demanded. "But, that's Muto!"

"I'm not convinced of the authenticity of this so-called artefact," Harry put in. "Ancient Pharaohs wore one of three different head-dresses, depending on where and when they reigned. None of them are here, and that hair is _all_ wrong. Fashion dictated that there not be a single hair on their bodies, save for the beards, which were usually fake and meant to represent wisdom. Even the queens of Egypt, when they ruled without a king, wore beards as well as their wigs. The real killer though, is that this is a full relief, not an engraved one. Flat scenes on large spaces like this were engraved or painted, not relief works. Only the gods were done full relief like this, and those were always done to god-like proportions."

Kaiba chuckled. "You sure know a lot about this stuff."

Harry shrugged. "I've been fascinated with ancient Egypt since before I ever came to Japan," he answered easily. "And unlike _some_ lost cultures, there is an absolute _wealth_ of knowledge to be had on the subject."

"If you won't trust my words," Ishizu said, clearly becoming totally frustrated with the interference of the 'security detail' who she had _not_ invited. "Then you'll just have to experience some of the battle first hand! Which I can help you _do_ with the power of my Millennium Necklace."

Harry was not made privy to the visions forced upon Seto, visions that would have left the elder Kaiba brother shaking on the floor if Harry hadn't caught him. Regardless, he knew he'd have to go home with his classmate and run damage-control. The last time someone with a Millennium Item had told Kaiba to 'open his mind' after all, had not been delicately done at all. Harry doubted that Ms Ishtar had been any more gentle than the spirit of the Puzzle had been, and no more _truthful_ than her fake sandstone tablet either.

In fact, probably _exactly_ as truthful as her fake sandstone tablet, as it was the story that had been carved onto it that she was trying to push.

"Now are you convinced, Kaiba?" Ishizu asked. "It is no coincidence that Yugi is your greatest rival, and it is destiny that you will do battle again."

"I don't believe in destiny," Kaiba answered as he straightened from Harry's hold, though he did nod his gratitude for the support. "I'm out of here," he said firmly and turned on his heel.

"Kaiba," Ishizu called as Seto and Harry started walking away. "I thought you wanted powerful monsters? Duel Monster cards that surpass the power of Exodia."

Kaiba stopped, but it was Harry who turned, if only looking at her over his shoulder rather than turning fully. After all, the cards she was talking about... if nothing else, Harry had a duty as head of Industrial Illusions to keep track of the mistakes of his predecessor and current art director.

"They're right there before your very eyes," she said, pointing to the top of the tablet where three monsters in rectangles were arranged around what was clearly the Millennium Puzzle. "Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, the Winged Dragon of Ra. Control one, and you can destroy a million armies. Wield all three, and the planet itself will quake in fear! Even Pegasus feared the cards and the power they held. You cannot fathom the magical power contained within, and Pegasus could not control the power of the cards _he_ had created. They threatened to overwhelm and destroy him."

"That's interesting," Harry commented blithely, locking his eyes onto hers and delving into her mind carefully. He wanted to know everything that she _wasn't_ telling them, because there was obviously a lot that came under that heading. "How it took you _this long_ to get back around to the god cards you have already admitted were recently stolen from you."

"I need your help to get them back," Ishizu said firmly. "I know that they were taken by a group that call themselves the Rare Hunters. They are a ruthless underground group that will stop at nothing to get the most rare cards in the world, selling them on the black market and keeping the strongest for themselves, from which they make powerful decks that lay waste to all in their path. They operate in the shadows however, so they are almost impossible to find. That is why I need your help to draw them out into the open. Should you create a tournament, your reputation would draw the best of Duellists in the world, and with them -"

"All their rare and powerful cards," Kaiba finished.

Harry frowned in disgust. "I don't approve of your method," he informed Ms Ishtar in a low, dangerous tone. "You're turning everybody who would take part in a Kaiba Corporation sponsored tournament into bait. That's not a good image."

"Agreed," Kaiba said. "However, I _do_ also want my title back," he said, giving Harry a significant look, which was missed by Ishizu as Kaiba still had his back to her. "And if we catch some thieves as well, then that is _good_ publicity."

"One last thing," Ishizu said, walking up to Kaiba, who turned to face her. "Take this."

"It's -" Kaiba blinked in shock as he looked down at the card he had just been handed. "Obelisk the Tormentor! But you said they were stolen!"

"Another lie," Harry commented lowly.

"I never said they were _all_ stolen," Ishizu corrected. "I managed to retrieve one in time. You may _borrow_ it during the tournament, but I expect it back."

"It's not every day a card this rare is handed to me," Kaiba commented, a cruel smile on his face. "What if I choose to keep it forever? What makes you think I can be trusted? I could walk out and you'd never see it again."

"You _will_ return that card to me," she answered firmly. "I have foreseen it."

"I'll bet," Harry and Kaiba commented, both at the same time.

"You may not believe in destiny, but before the tournament is done, you _will_ have to face your past," Ishizu insisted as the two teens walked away.

"You know, I think I read that on a fortune cookie once," Kaiba commented to Harry with a smirk.

"When reading fortune cookies, always add 'in bed' or 'in my pants' at the end. It makes them even more funny," Harry suggested, a matching grin on his own face.

Just before they completely left the room where Ms Ishtar was still standing, Harry stopped and glared at her over his shoulder. "Tell Shadi that I wouldn't leave him in charge of guarding a locked box of shit, the number of Millennium Items that are showing up all over the place now, and if he crosses Shokunin Hiei, it will be the last thing he does."

He was mildly gratified to see her eyes go wide with shock before he turned away from her again.

During the car ride back to Kaiba's, Harry helped poke logic-shaped holes into the 'visions' that had been forced on Seto. Things like the people speaking in Japanese, having pale skin, lots of purple clothes when that was a _really expensive dye back then_, only the sorcerer who was supposed to be Seto's previous life actually having their face wholly visible and it being _exactly_ Seto's face. Yeah... genetic improbability, anyone?

~oOo~


	15. Chapter 15

He'd been doing his grocery shopping. A perfectly normal, every-day sort of thing for a fifteen-year-old living on his own to do. Even if he wasn't, himself, perfectly normal beyond superficial similarities. The man who approached him while he had been doing his grocery shopping, on the other hand, could not even superficially pass for _remotely_ normal.

And Domino had a _lot_ of weird people. Muto Yugi and Bakura Ryou immediately sprung to mind as locals with unusual appearances, and there were plenty of others. They had _nothing_ on this guy though. No, _this_ guy was wearing a pink, pleated, _dress_. Something that would look mildly passable on Miho-chan, _maybe_, except of course that the girl had more taste than that, and wasn't really into ankle-length dresses anyway.

It was _possible_ that the old man was just totally senile. He had his very long grey beard tucked into his green belt, so senility was a possibility. So was that he was totally colour-blind. Though that didn't explain why he even owned the dress, or why a shop keeper had _sold_ it to him.

When the man's gaze landed on Harry, and his blue gaze proceeded to light up behind his half-moon spectacles, and he called out "Harry my boy!" Harry knew he had to get out of there fast.

Thankfully, he was just a few more item-scans away from paying and being able to book it out of there, and no one was keen on letting a crazy looking foreigner push past them in the line to get to a boy who they all knew to be a celebrity who appreciated his privacy and kept himself grounded in normalcy as much as he could.

Harry was _liked_ in his neighbourhood, in a polite, slightly distant sort of way. Strange old men from foreign lands wearing pink dresses _weren't_, generally speaking.

The strange man pretty much chased after him though, calling him by the name he hadn't gone by for a bit over five years now.

"Landlord, if you don't do something about him before we get to our street, then _I_ will," the Thief King said, a growl in his voice. "_He_ is the man who left you on the Dursley's doorstep. You know what I swore to do to him if ever the opportunity presented itself."

Harry stopped and sighed. Yes, he knew. Actually, considering what he knew of the man from the international press, Harry was seriously considering letting the spirit have his way. He'd been denied the fangirls for so long... and rewards should be given for good behaviour. Harry smiled.

"He's all yours, your majesty," he answered within his mind as he surrendered control of his body to the ancient personality.

The Thief King was even nice enough to not make it so that Harry would remember what, exactly, he ended up doing to the colour-blind old coot. Unless Harry himself actually wanted to, that is.

~oOo~

Harry sighed as he walked the streets, Kaiba Corporation's latest Duel Disk hanging heavy on his arm. Well, alright, it was actually a very light-weight thing, but he'd been wearing it all day and between being challenged to Duels (he never did the challenging, there was no need to totally demoralize everybody present by being aggressive, quite beside the fact that he really didn't have to go far before being challenged by a new Duellist with a big ego) he was being begged for autographs – he _was_ King of Games after all, as well as the kid in charge of Industrial Illusions. Heck, he'd even helped Kaiba test the new Duelling Disks for the Battle City Tournament.

"Shokunin-sama! Shokunin-sama!" a kid's voice called excitedly from behind him.

Harry turned and smiled. "Well, if it isn't the champ," he greeted happily, recognising the kid who had won Kaiba Land's first tournament for new Duellists. One of the four kids he'd awarded Yellow Eyes Grey Dragons to. "How've you been doing since I saw you last? Taichi-kun, right?"

"Right! I've been practising every day, just like I said!" the kid answered, stars in his eyes. "And I've been getting better every day too! I even won a Duel in _this_ tournament just a few minutes ago!"

Harry laughed. "That's very well done of you," he complimented. "May I see which card you won?"

The kid nodded happily and pulled out his deck, thumbing through the cards until he came to the right one. "Here it is! See, Shokunin-sama?" Taichi asked, thrilled to be showing off his prize.

"Wow, a Time Wizard. That's a pretty good card," Harry congratulated the boy, ruffling his thick brown hair like a proud parent might as he squatted down to get a better look at the card. "You be careful using it though, okay? It can work against you just as easily as it can work _for_ you."

Taichi nodded solemnly. "Yeah. That's actually how I won. The after the Time Roulette, the Time Wizard grew this other guy's Baby Dragon in to a Thousand Year Dragon, but it also made my big sister's Dark Magical Girl – she leant it to me for the tournament – it also made her into a super-powerful Dark Witch of Ages."

Harry nodded and patted the kid on the head again. "Well, you be careful not to lose your big sister's Dark Magical Girl as well. But if she's got a deck why isn't she competing?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.

"She doesn't like competitions," Taichi explained. "She plays with her friends, and with me, and she always cheers me on when I compete, but..."

Harry laughed as the kid shifted uncomfortably. "That's alright," he said. "Some folks are in it for the competitions, others just love the game. That's perfectly fine."

"Hey, Shokunin-sama, do you think I could get your autograph? For my big sister?"

Harry held in a sigh and pulled out a pen and a pad of paper he carried in his pocket. He used it for making notes on particular Duellists as he walked around, observing other Duels when he could.

"What's her name?" Harry asked kindly.

"Hikari!"

Harry smiled and bent over his pad. "Hikari-chan, you sound like the sort of big sister I wish that I had, sincerely, Shokunin Hiei," he said as he wrote down those same words, then handed the paper to the boy.

"Wow! Thank you Shokunin-san! I just _know_ I'm gonna get one of her bestest hugs for getting your autograph for her!"

Harry had to laugh at that, and with one last pat on the kid's head, sent him on his way.

"You really have a way with the kids," a more familiar voice commented from Harry's left.

"Hello Kujaku-chan," Harry greeted, standing up straight again. "You're not going to challenge me to a Duel are you?" he asked hopefully as he turned to face her. He kinda liked Mai as a person, kinda, and he'd already been challenged to – and won – six Duels. He could move on to the hidden location of the finals any time he liked, and it was only the first day. He was _tired_. Not so tired he wouldn't be able to beat Mai if she wanted a Duel but...

Mai held up her hands in a pose of surrender, shaking her head. "No thank you," she answered. "I might challenge Yugi to a Duel later, but not you, Hiei-kun. I like to think I know when I'm faced with someone I _can't_ beat. I'll Duel you when it's down to you and me in the finals though."

Harry smiled, wide and relieved. "Then could I interest you in a cold drink?" he offered, gesturing to the café that was open just a few feet away.

"Your treat?" she asked, answering Harry's smile with her own.

"Well, you _are_ a lady of quality, and I _did_ just invite you," Harry replied. "So alright. I'll treat you, but just this once. I'll even call it a date if you like."

"Yay!" Mai cheered, looking _very_ cute, likely on purpose. "How many girls can say they got a date with the King of Games in the middle of a tournament?"

Harry chuckled. "Just you," he answered. "In fact, you're the only girl who can say you've ever gotten a date out of me at all," he added as he pulled out a chair for Mai to sit down.

"Wow, I _am_ a lucky girl," she commented happily, then blinked as a thought occurred to her. "Hiei-kun, does that mean you've never been on a date before?" she asked.

Harry shook his head. "Since I don't think business meetings with Seto-san count, however much I tease him," Harry said, "then I guess this _is_ my first ever date."

"You tease Kaiba-san?" Mai asked, leaning forward over the table, resting elbows on the table and her chin on her hands as she looked intently and curiously at Harry.

Harry sighed as he nodded. "Mostly he just growls at me when I do though," he said with an air of melodramatic melancholy. "So," he said, dropping the act with a smile as he settled a menu between them. "What would you like?"

~oOo~

It wasn't long after wishing Mai luck that Harry came across one of the cloaked Rare Hunters for the first time in the Battle City Tournament. Oh he'd seen Yugi's Duel with one of them right at the kick-off, but he hadn't actually come into personal contact with one of the robed goons himself until that moment. He also couldn't help but sigh in frustration. After all, he _recognised_ the bum under the black bed-sheet.

"Bandit Keith," Harry greeted in a truly non-committal tone.

"King of Games," the man answered, and there was something off about his voice.

"Landlord," the Thief King cautioned.

"Ah," Harry said archly. "It seems that the correct greeting should be: Bandit Kieth's body, Marik," he corrected himself.

"Oh? You know my name? But we haven't been introduced."

Harry snorted in derision. "I met you big sister," he answered. "She wasn't all that keen on talking to me, but I managed to get a few details out of her that I'm sure she'd rather didn't get around." Things like owning more than one Millennium Item and being layered with anti-scrying spells blocked _true_ visions of him, even with the Necklace. Particularly if the spells were geared specifically towards blocking that one particular method. Of course, he knew better than to tell _Marik_ any of that. Hell, he knew better than to tell _Ishizu_ that, as she hadn't _actually_ known either, he'd just been able to figure it out.

"I find that hard to believe," Marik countered. "Ishizu is particularly good at keeping that sort of pesky little detail to herself."

"I didn't say she wasn't," Harry replied. "But talking to you through a third party is annoying. You can never be sure what they'll remember later. So, do you wish to Duel me in person, or through the no doubt _very_ unwilling Bandit Keith? He's quite wilful you know. I'm sure he's been testing your mind control."

The Rod was like the Imperious Curse, only more than just taking control in a remote sense like a puppeteer, the one controlling could almost throw their own minds into the body that they were controlling from afar. Also like the Imperious Curse, it was possible to throw off. Not easy of course, the Imperious Curse was hard to throw off and the power of the Millennium Rod was even harder. But it was possible. Especially once the victim became aware that they were being controlled.

An artificial smirk, some directions, and an hour later, and Harry was walking into the building where Marik had set himself up on a throne, the Millennium Rod in his hand like a royal sceptre.

The conversation after that was nearly monosyllabic and very simple.  
"Shadow Game," Marik said with malicious delight as he eyed the Ring that was, for once, hanging freely over the top of Harry's shirt.

"Stakes?" Harry countered.

"Your Items," Marik declared, knowing that Harry had also taken the Eye from Pegasus after Duellist Kingdom.

"Your Rod and the Winged Dragon of Ra," Harry returned firmly. He didn't particularly _want_ the Rod, but Marik clearly wasn't mentally stable enough to be responsible with it, and like a child with a gun, it needed to be confiscated. The same with the card, only Harry _liked_ collecting cards more than he liked collecting Millennium Items.

"Done!"

Then they Duelled.

Harry performed with the brutal efficiency that he saved for important and _un_friendly Duels, and robbed Marik of all four-thousand of his life points before the blonde Egyptian could sacrifice his weaker monsters for something powerful enough to save him. After all, it didn't _matter_ that there was an Egyptian god card in Marik's deck if he was ruled out before he even got to draw it.

Harry thanked the monsters he had summoned, who all bowed to him in return before the Shadow Realm faded away from around Harry and Marik.

"You know what comes now," Harry informed the other boy. "Unless you _particularly_ want me to send you to the Shadow Realm for a Penalty Game."

Marik grit his teeth and threw the Rod at Harry, his expression making it clear that he hoped the Millennium Item struck him in the head and cracked his skull open.

Harry stopped it in the air before it reached him, using a simple levitation charm to halt its inertia and then have it float gently into his hand.

Marik just about spat in disgust as he took out his deck to get the requested card for his opponent. He _knew_ about Penalty Games after all. He'd used them himself to great effect. He had no desire to be the victim of one, and handing over a _fake_ card would put him in just such a position.

"Thank you," Harry said politely as he accepted the card from Marik. That done, he turned on his heel and headed out. "Have a nice day!" he called over his shoulder as he stepped out the door.

He was ready to call it a day and have himself a nice hot bath.

~oOo~


	16. Chapter 16

Taking the Millennium Rod wasn't enough to stop Marik apparently, as Harry heard reports of Rare Hunter activity and people messing with Yugi coming from all over. Not his problem though. Harry was on 'Mokuba Watch', being the big bad backup for the kid because, frankly, just because he had official authority and a personality that was twice his height didn't mean that – physically – the kid was capable of being all that intimidating on his own.

"Mr Potter," a voice, deep, droll, disinterested, called to him from behind.

"Shokunin," Harry corrected as he turned around only just enough to get this person in his peripheral vision. Mokuba was his main focus, so he wasn't letting the kid out of his sight. "I haven't been Potter for five years. I'm Shokunin Hiei now, though by your way of introduction I suppose it would be Hiei Shokunin," he said – in English, since he doubted that whoever was calling him by his old name could speak Japanese. "You haven't introduced _yourself_, sir, and I'm working right now."

The man, dressed in dark clothes that would have looked perfectly sensible except for the billowing robe that he wore over them, sneered passed his crooked nose. "Professor Severus Snape, Potion Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," the man stated, also in English.

Harry felt justified in his choice to not speak to the man in Japanese.

"What is your purpose here, Professor?" Harry asked politely, though he kept most of his attention on Mokuba. No one who cared about the kid wanted to see him get kidnapped again, and it _was_ still a very real possibility – either as a hostage, for ransom, or worse.

"To take you back to England where you belong," Snape answered firmly.

"I'm busy right now, sir. Come back in a week or two," Harry answered, turning completely away from the man.

"That is not an option," Snape hissed, drawing his wand. "You are needed to remove the Dark Lord! _Stupefy_!"

Harry took two quick steps to the side to avoid the spell, letting it pass by himself and hit another person wearing a dark robe. This robed person was nothing like Professor Snape however, and it was obvious because the robe that he was wearing was in the same style as that worn by both the controlled Bandit Keith and Marik when Harry confronted the blonde Egyptian the day before.

"Rare Hunters," Harry growled in Japanese, warning Mokuba with that little comment to be wary of the crowed of men wearing matching robes who had just appeared. "Stick close to me Mokuba," he added firmly, even as he took a few steps closer to the kid. He needed to pack up the tracking system he'd been monitoring just a moment ago after all, that took a little time, so Harry would be the one sticking close to Mokuba until everything was in the kid's suitcase.

The first Rare Hunter to make a move – apart from the one who had been stunned by Snape's spell of course – was knocked into the railing that surrounded the roof by a swift kick from Harry. There was quite the sound when his skull hit the rail. A sound that implied, rather heavily, that the man wasn't getting up again in a hurry.

That was two down, but there were still four more and Snape to worry about.

Hm, and he'd left the Rod back at his house – because it really was just a cumbersome waste of space – so there would be no using it as a cudgel or pulling the sword out of the end of it. Magic or fists, decisions, decisions.

Well, first things first. The guy charging Mokuba got all that he deserved – and nothing of what he was trying to grab. He joined the other two in la-la land, enjoying a personal view of the stars from behind his own eyelids.

"Your brother does great work," Harry complimented to Mokuba with a wry smile as he patted his Duel Disk. He'd used _it_ to clothes-line the attacker, and there wasn't even so much as a scratch in the paint, let alone a dent.

"He sure does!" Mokuba agreed happily, even as he kept packing his equipment.

A couple of quick stunning spells, and everybody else was down for the count as well, the English wizard included. He'd have to actually _do_ something with that one though, which was slightly annoying.

~oOo~

It was mildly entertaining for Harry to stand with the Kaiba brothers and see who had made it to the finals. Muto of course, Kujaku had made it as well, Marik had likely gotten _his_ locator cards from his Rare Hunters rather than doing it the _right_ way – some were still loyal to him without the power of the Millennium Rod to force the issue, which was interesting. It was also interesting that the friendship squad thought his name was Namu, and that another man in a Rare Hunter robe was answering to Marik's name. Ryou had stumbled in, surprising everybody with his appearance – mostly because he really looked like he should be in a hospital bed rather than a Duel Monsters tournament. And to Seto's surprise, Katsuya Jounouchi had wormed his way into the finals as well.

"Can we get a move on?" Harry asked once everybody was present. "Only I've recently been very politely requested to appear in the UK -" Snape _had_ been very polite once he'd woken up and gotten over his vitriol about being attached to a chair with duct tape, "- and they'd like me there as soon as possible."

"Are you so sure of victory?" Marik asked, his voice pitched in an altogether more pleasant octave than he'd used when he'd faced Harry in their Shadow Game.

Harry shook his head. "Victory is never sure until after the battle is won," he said, quoting his philosophising sensei again. "I'm just in a hurry."

"You're not gonna punk out because you've got somewhere else to be, are ya?" Jounouchi asked suspicously.

Harry shook his head. "Like Seto would let me," he said, jerking his thumb at his business associate before walking over to Ryou. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked, genuinely concerned for his fellow Pom. He was genuinely a _lot_ of things for his white-haired classmate, and had been for some time. It just worked out that this was the first time he'd get to actually show any of that...

"Don't know," Ryou admitted with a weak smile. "But I entered this contest with my eyes open, and I intend to see it through!"

Harry chuckled and took off his Duel Disk, passed it to Mokuba, then picked up the other boy.

"Whoa!" Ryou yelped in shock, gripping reflexively to Harry's coat.

"And for our _next_ surprise!" Harry announced with a grin – and a wink for Ryou.

Mokuba picked it up. "You will be Duelling in the sky!"

"I have clearly left you two unsupervised together too often," Seto commented as the blimp landed.

Harry went on board first with Ryou, settled him into one of the cabins and even took his shoes off and tucked the other boy into the bed provided.

"Why do you do this for me Shokunin-san?" Ryou asked quietly from his prone position.

"Hiei," Harry said, sitting down on the edge of Ryou's bed and looking at him. "Please call me Hiei."

Ryou nodded. "My question still stands, Hiei-san," he pointed out.

Harry rested a hand on Ryou's bed next to where Ryou's hand lay, and leant forward. "Kiss me and I'll tell you," he promised, his voice soft, as though it were a great secret.

Ryou's chocolate brown eyes went wide, and a cute blush rose across his cheeks. He looked away from Harry's face and bit his lip. After a moment's silent deliberation, Ryou lifted his hand off the bed slightly and crooked his finger, indicating for Harry to lean in closer.

Harry obliged, and stopped when he was barely an inch above Ryou's face. He felt a gentle hand wrap around the back of his neck, pulling him a little closer, and saw Ryou lifting his head from his pillow.

Then their lips met.

It was a tentative kiss that Ryou gave him, but Harry was quick to make sure Ryou couldn't back away from the contact by supporting Ryou's head with his own free hand, and took full advantage of the dry and slightly chapped lips that were pressed against his own. Harry didn't force the kiss to last until their lungs were burning for want of air, but pulled away before they got that far. Gently, breathing deeply and brushing the side of his nose against Ryou's before raising his head far enough so that they weren't almost cross-eyed when looking at each other.

"Oh my," Ryou murmured, his doe-like eyes flicking from feature to feature of Harry's face as he attempted to assimilate his experience.

"You know, you're the first person to have kissed me properly when I make that offer," Harry said softly. "Mokuba has given me a peck on the cheek before, as you saw back at the island, but..." he trailed off, then shook his head. "Well, I promised an answer for a kiss," he said in a more normal tone as he straightened his back once more.

"I think I may have figured it out from the way you kissed me back," Ryou admitted softly.

Harry chuckled softly. "It's a lot of reasons actually," he said, shuffling his bum closer and triple-checking to make sure that the white-haired boy was comfortable. "One is that we've both come from the UK. A thin reason, perhaps, but one that I feel is legitimate, even if my ten years in England prior to coming to Japan weren't _exactly_ the best. Another reason is that you are genuinely good at and enjoy Duel Monsters. You're not anywhere near as vicious as I get to be during competitions, or you weren't in our Duel at school. You're a kind person generally, you look out for others where and when you can, you're pleasant company and you're intelligent. Those are all qualities that I value in a person. You mentioned, way back at the beginning of the school year, that you were interested in archaeology -"

"You remember that?" Ryou asked in surprise, interrupting Harry's listing his reasoning as to why he was being so kind.

Harry smiled. "I sat up and took notice of you right then," he admitted freely. "It wasn't your white hair that got my attention, though I admit that I _do_ quite like it," he added with a gentle tug on one of those white locks.

"Hiei-san! Hiei-san? Hiei-san!" a voice called from the hall outside. A _familiar_ voice.

"In here Mokuba!" Harry answered, getting up from his seat on Ryou's bed to open the door.

"You're Duel Disk," the kid said with a bright smile, handing it back. "You didn't forget it, did you?"

Harry laughed and shook his head as he took the contraption back. "No," he answered. "But I knew that I could trust you to either get it back to me or put it in my room. After all, I've got my cards, and your brother and I have security all over the place."

Mokuba chuckled. "Good point," he agreed. "How's Bakura-san?"

"He should be fine after a good night's rest," Harry assured the boy. "Now, you _are_ going to get a full night's rest _yourself_, aren't you? You're going to need to be up and full of energy if you're going to supervise all of the Duels tomorrow."

"Of course!" Mokuba answered happily. "Goodnight Hiei-san! I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight Bakura-san!" he added, waving to Ryou around Harry's body before ducking back out and running down the hall to his own room.

"Where were we?" Harry asked, his brow furrowing in thought.

Ryou smiled. "I'd offer to tell you for a kiss, but I'm afraid I might forget myself if I did that," he answered.

Harry laughed and sat down on the edge of Ryou's bed again. "I remember," he said. "I sat up and took notice of you the first day of classes, and it wasn't because of your beautiful hair either."

Ryou chuckled, and very deliberately took hold of Harry's hand and wove his finger's in between Harry's. "So why didn't you ever approach me?" he asked. "You were always with Kaiba it seems. You still are, most school days."

"He and I have two things in common: terminal lack of parents, and more money than most reasonable people know what to do with," Harry answered. "Even before I took over Industrial Illusions. Actually, I have more money than Seto and have had less parental influence in my life. Mostly, I enjoy needling him," he admitted with a cheeky smile. "You had friends in Muto and the others, however casual the friendship. Kaiba very deliberately kept everybody away. I just decided to try and get past his prickly exterior, particularly with the way Katsuya-san was so ready to be disparaging. Kaiba doesn't really appreciate how much damage-control I did on his behalf when he wasn't looking."

Ryou frowned in thought. "Why didn't you approach me the same way?" he asked softly.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, apart from being a little shy, I was also a bit worried," he admitted. "You see, I know _another_ Bakura..." he said, and pulled out the Millennium Ring from beneath his shirt. "The spirit of the Ring. His name is Bakura as well."

Ryou blinked in surprise at this new information and tentatively reached out a hand to touch the Item.

Harry grabbed Ryou's wrist quickly, stopping him. "Best you don't," he advised. "Not yet at least. I don't know what would happen if you did, and I don't really want to risk anything untoward happening until my business in England is dealt with."

Ryou nodded his understanding, even if he didn't totally, and lowered his hand once it had been released. He watched as Harry returned the Ring to its place beneath his clothes once again though.

"I feel like I _have_ to touch it," Ryou told Harry softly.

"Later," Harry promised, bent to kiss Ryou's brow, then stood. "I'll see you in the morning, alright?"

Ryou nodded against his pillow, making his messy white hair even more wild and rumpled.

Harry smiled, flicked off the light, and shut the door behind him.

~oOo~


	17. Chapter 17

In the morning, a high-end breakfast had been shared by all, even Ms Ishtar – who Harry recognised despite the disguise she was wearing. The mask over her face had failed to hide the Millennium Necklace after all, and there was the rather prominent head-dress with the same eye motif all the other Millennium Items had. After the buffet breakfast had been ploughed through (most notably by Jounouchi), the lottery began that would decide who would Duel first.

Being a Kaiba Corporation product, the lottery machine was very heavily influenced by Seto's favourite dragon. Inside a bubble that held numbered balls – which corresponded to the numbers given to the finalists – one Blue Eyes White Dragon head caught a ball in its mouth. That ball then was spat out by a second Blue Eyes head. A second ball was caught in the same way, then spat out by a third dragon.

The first Duel was between Jounouchi and 'Marik'. Not the real Marik, but the man who was pretending to be him.

Harry quietly walked up to stand beside the blonde Egyptian.

"What's his _real_ name?" he asked quietly.

Marik scowled at him. Still, he grit out an answer. "Odion."

When Odion played the Winged Dragon of Ra – the card that Harry had won from Marik a few days before – Harry raised an eyebrow at the shorter teen he was standing beside.

Marik didn't so much as twitch.

Harry turned away from the Duel, left Marik on his own, and checked the card he'd won. It was the real deal, the magic of the Ring recognised the power of the Egyptian god who had been so represented. Harry hustled to where Kaiba was watching the Duel.

"Fake on the field," he said shortly, holding up the _real_ Winged Dragon of Ra card.

Kaiba's blue eyes went wide, both from the claim and the sight of the card. "Fake cards won't work right on my Duel Disks," he said, then scowled. "Chalk another victory by Katsuya up to dumb luck. Emphasis on _dumb_."

Harry chuckled, shaking his head as he left the Duelling Arena before things got messy. Not that they hadn't been already of course, but Marik was found out for who he really was when the Duel was done. Just in time for him to Duel Kujaku-chan.

"Kujaku-chan," Harry said softly, stalling her on her way to the Arena. "If he says anything about shadows, the Shadow Realm or Shadow Games, be careful. That's dangerous stuff."

Mai blinked in surprise at the soft advice, but nodded in unsure agreement.

The Duel was still a mess. Marik was _clearly_ mentally unstable, and Harry could only breathe a little easier to know that he'd taken the Winged Dragon of Ra and the Millennium Rod from the slightly younger male. If he hadn't, then the only girl he'd ever taken on a date would have been in _serious_ trouble, not just having to deal with losing the Duel.

Okay, being made comatose by Marik's evil alter-ego wasn't _fun_, but it could have been worse! Not sure how, considering that for as long as she _remained_ comatose she was slowly forgetting her whole life. Oh yeah, there was the possibility that Marik could have actually totally obliterated her with the power of the Winged Dragon of Ra. That would probably have been worse.

"Can't you do something for her, Shokunin-san?" Yugi begged as Mai was carried by Jounouchi and Honda to a bed.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Yugi. "Mad Max back there used Shadow Magic to trap Kujaku-chan in the Shadow Realm and slowly but surely remove her entire sense of self for as long as she remained there," he answered. He wasn't going to call Marik's evil alter-ego Marik as well, because there _was_ clearly a difference. It was also very _not nice_. Not that Marik was exactly a paragon of virtue, but the other version was just... No. Not calling him Marik as well. "It's not like when Peggy trapped the souls of Mokuba and your grandfather in the Shadow Realm. He kept them there, but they were whole and relatively safe. Easily called back by comparison," Harry explained.

Yugi's shoulders slumped. The look of resigned dejection really didn't suit the squirt.

Harry sighed in frustration. "Why don't _you_ do something?" he suggested.

"Me? What can I do?" Yugi asked, surprised.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You can go to the Shadow Realm, can't you?" he asked.

Yugi nodded.

"You helped her some actually _during_ the Duel, didn't you? Before she insisted she could do it herself," he kept on.

Yugi nodded a second time.

"You managed to put _that_ puzzle back together, didn't you?" Harry demanded, pointing at the Millennium Puzzle still hanging from Yugi's neck.

Again, the spiky-haired teen nodded.

"So think of what Mad Max did to Kujaku-chan as turning her mind _into_ a puzzle, and then sending the pieces off to be lost in the Shadow Realm. It might take a while to find the pieces _on your own_, but then again..." Harry trailed off, shrugging. "And don't think that this means I don't care!" he snapped shortly. "Kujaku-chan granted me my first date recently. We won't be doing it again, but it was a very nice date all the same," he said softly, then hardened his gaze as he looked Yugi in the eye. "But you can't keep turning to others to make things right all the time," he insisted. "Having support and supporters is one thing. Needing a crutch is totally another."

Yugi nodded in understanding, and then raced off to catch up with Jounouchi and Honda, intent on helping Mai.

Luckily for Yugi, he wasn't required for the next Duel in Kaiba's tournament.

The next Duel, in fact, was between Harry and Ishizu Ishtar, though she was almost late due to her preference towards dramatics.

Harry didn't even blink in surprise when Ms Ishtar revealed herself to be named by the officiating security guard. She was a bit surprised though. She had clearly expected to be Duelling someone else, and Harry would put his money on that someone being Seto.

"Divination of the future is never a _sure_ thing, Ms Ishtar," Harry quipped at her. "Highly probable, perhaps, but not definitive."

Ishizu raised a defensive hand to cover the Item that hung around her neck.

"To prove it to you, I will let you use the powers of the Necklace in our Duel, but on the condition that if you lose, you surrender it to me," Harry prodded.

"A Shadow Game?" she asked, hands down by her sides and clenched in tight fists as she frowned across the Arena at him.

Harry nodded once, slowly. "It has to be," he pointed out. "For true legitimacy. And likewise for true legitimacy, I will _not_ use the Millenium Eye that I won from Peggy," he added, naming the Item that it was _relatively_ _known_ that he had won.

Ishizu nodded as well, agreeing to the terms.

Harry then turned to Marik. Or rather, Marik's body. "You, pick a number lower than fifteen, and _give control of that body back to its true owner_," he ordered, pointing to Mad Max.

The Egyptian scowled at him. "Thirteen, and I _won't_. There is only room for _one_, and _I_ am that one!"

Harry narrowed his eyes, determining that the issue would just have to be _forced_, but later. Just at the moment he had a Duel to be getting on with, so he took the thirteenth deck from his coat and set it into his Duel Disk.

"Oh, and Ms Ishtar?" Harry called. "I wouldn't be putting all of your faith in the Pharaoh either. He hasn't finished putting _himself_ back together yet, even if the Puzzle was solved."

Ishizu was visibly struck by this casual statement, though she quickly composed herself.

The Duel was called to begin, and Harry stood there silently, still and stoic, arms folded and eyes closed. Waiting. Waiting for the Egyptian to make the first move.

She made a short speech instead. About her brother and how she would save him, about destiny, about Harry not believing and how he _would_ believe, about how every move she made was dictated by fate and that she _would_ win, about how she would get all of the Egyptian god cards back. It just kept going.

Harry eventually gave up waiting for her to make a move and slipped a couple of cards onto the Duel Disk, face down and unannounced and perfectly legal, then he drew two more from his deck to replace the two he'd laid down from his hand.

It was Ryou who finally put an end to Ishizu's speech. He burst into laughter from his spot on the sidelines.

"What's funny?" It seemed that everybody asked the same question at the same time. In different tones, but that, in and of itself was quite amusing.

"Hiei-san is waiting for Ms Ishtar to move, and for all her powers of divination, she doesn't seem to be able to see _that_," Ryou answered them all through his chuckles.

Finally, she drew a card and placed it, with the same amount of grand-standing that was _usual_ to those who thought big of themselves or couldn't seem to think at all without speaking their thoughts aloud at the same time.

The Duel Monster she called up looked like an Egyptian statue made of gold. How... quaint.

Even with Kaiba's new rules about sacrificing a weaker monster or two in order to call forth a more powerful one – rules which Harry had actually grown up with, as it was the Thief King teaching him the game according to the ancient rules – Harry defeated Ishizu in short order. An order which went something like trap, destroy, rebuff, eliminate, and then obliterate. The obliterating came courtesy of Exodia. He'd used the monster before, but that was just the deck that had been chosen.

Ishizu collapsed where she stood, shocked at her loss, and then pulled off her Necklace and held it out to Harry.

Harry sighed as he took the golden circle, frowning at it in disgust. "Shadi has _really_ not been guarding these things at _all_ well," he grumbled, shoving the thing into a pocket that had expansion charms on it.

The 'final' Duel was Seto against Ryou. It wasn't a _friendly_ Duel by any means, but there was nothing supernatural about it at all. Seto's god card didn't even make an appearance. Just his three Blue Eyes, which was more than sufficient to win the Duel, though Ryou _had_ put up an exceptional front and made sure it was _not_ an easy win. Harry had to smile when Seto actually shook Ryou's hand after the Duel. After all, Seto didn't hand out his respect to just anybody, and defeating him (or losing to him) certainly wasn't a guarantee of respect either.

Due to the odd number of Duellists, it seemed that Yugi had gotten through the first round on a free pass. Except that there would _only_ be _four_ permitted through to the next round. Yugi was paired up against Jounouchi for the last Duel of the first round.

No, the student had _not_ yet surpassed his master. Thankfully, it was the last Duel of the day. It had been tiring for all involved, including the spectators, so hot food and soft beds with warm sheets were all very much appreciated.

While Yugi Duelled Jounouchi, Harry took over guiding Kujaku-chan back to herself from within the Shadow Realm. He called on monsters to help him find the pieces of her memory that had been ripped from her and scattered, he used the Ring, and the Thief King applied his problem-solving skills – the same ones that had gotten him through traps unscathed and around curses safely when he was robbing tombs – to slot the pieces and their torn edges back together in their right places in the young lady's mind.

It was a process made much easier through the excellent start that Yugi had made while _he_ had been at her side, though from the number of pieces that had been put back into Mai before Harry got there, Harry could tell that Yugi hadn't thought to ask his monsters for help finding the fragments of memory.

Mai wasn't up to moving about, and there were still gaps in her memory, but she was no longer trapped within the Shadow Realm and losing _more_ pieces of her mind. That, combined with continued attention from Yugi – who was back at her side once more as soon as his Duel with Katsuya was over – should see her back to her old self by the time the final Duel was happening.

Harry had also gathered the memories that had been taken from Marik during the Duel. Every memory was important, however trivial it may seem. He'd see about returning those memories when he dealt with Mad Max, as he knew he would eventually. Not that Marik seemed to be all that pleasant either, but there was a difference between unpleasant and psychotic.

~oOo~


	18. Chapter 18

"Hiei-san?"

Harry smiled. "Yes, Ryou?" he answered, turning his attention away from his thoughts and to the white-haired teen who was standing by _his_ door, rather than further down the hall by the room where Ryou had slept the previous night.

"You left rather quickly after my Duel with Kaiba," Ryou said, shifting uncertainly. "You weren't... disappointed in me, where you?" he asked.

Harry shook his head. "Never," he answered in promise. "You Duelled very well, but I had to take over minding Kujaku-chan so that Muto-san could have his Duel with Katsuya-san," he explained.

Ryou nodded, a smile touching his lips as the worry faded away. "Will you tell me more about yourself?" he asked quietly.

Harry nodded, and gestured for Ryou to join him in his room. When he sat on his bed and Ryou had settled beside him, Harry flopped back and looked up at the boy he had kissed last night.

"I'll only tell you the truth, I promise, but I don't know what _you_ want to know," Harry said as he folded one arm beneath his head and rested the other hand on his stomach.

"Well, what do you like to do on the weekend?" Ryou asked.

Harry smiled. "I like to go flying with the kirin at the reserve that was set up for them by my family several generations ago," he answered. "Sometimes I have to do business on the weekends, and sometimes there are tournaments like this one, or lots of homework or something, but my favourite thing to do on the weekend is go flying with kirin."

Ryou blinked, several times. "Kirin?" he asked. "As in the mythical creature that will only bow to a true ruler, can't stand blood -"

"Kirin," Harry nodded. "I'll take you some time if you like. The Potter Kirin Sanctuary isn't exactly open to the public, but I own the place and the kirin like me. They don't _bow_ to me of course, but they do like me."

"And you said 'fly'," Ryou added, catching onto that detail next.

Harry nodded again. "On a broomstick. It might be more of a witch stereotype than a wizard one, but I do like flying on my broom," he confirmed.

"Witch? Wizard?" Ryou echoed. It seemed that his simple question about weekend activities had opened the gate to a slew of other questions that he couldn't even ask properly.

"I'm a wizard, a magician, a sorcerer, a practitioner of the magic arts," Harry clarified. "I study normal, every-day stuff in school, and then I study magic at my cram-school in the evenings."

Harry explained about his cram-school for Ryou, and about his being a wizard, and yes, that was how he got his cards to play themselves against Para and Dox, and no he wasn't really psychic. He could read people's minds and see ghosts, but it was the Thief King who had the talent for telling the future, and that was mostly through card readings.

Then Ryou asked Harry about his life in England. Ryou had spent his first few years in England as well, before going on a dig in Egypt with his passive and benignly neglectful father, until finally he was sent to Domino just a couple of years ago.

As promised, Harry was totally truthful in his answers.

Before, during Harry's explanations of magic and that world, Ryou had been wide-eyed and fascinated. As Harry talked about his childhood, however... well, Ryou was a very sweet boy, and being told that the Thief King had needed to regularly frighten the Dursleys into caring for Harry _at all_ was bad enough. Knowing that it would have been _much_ worse for Harry had he been _without_ the spirit of the Ring was almost too much to bear.

Ryou had wept quietly and kissed Harry softly and curled up with him on his bed. For a long while they stayed like that, just silent together with their arms around each other as they listened to the gentle thrum of the blimp's engines and systems running in the background. The next day, they would arrive at the set location for the next round of Duelling: Kaiba Corp Island.

~oOo~

Everybody was assembled on the bridge – Mad Max and the mysteriously vanished Odion excepted – and had just been treated to their first view of where the Kaiba Corporation began (and a little bit of back-story) when their pilot announced that someone had just hacked into the systems and was taking over the blimp. Their navigation computers were taking commands from outside the ship.

Mokuba managed to object, stating the impossibility as everything was state-of-the-art and their security was the tightest, when the blimp took a nose-dive to skim the water below. They managed to gain some of their altitude again when a slightly digitised voice sounded. Digitised the way a voice over the phone sounds digitised.

"Greetings Duellists," the voice said. "There is nothing wrong with your television set."

That, of course, drew everybody's attention to the screen that had been displaying Kaiba Corp Island, and which now showed a boy with green hair cut in a similar style to Kaiba Seto's.

"I'm in control now," the boy informed them all.

"Identify yourself!" Kaiba growled.

"Always barking orders, aren't you?" the boy asked rhetorically, sardonically. "I've been observing you," he informed them, looking down his nose at them all. "And it's time I put you in your place, Seto."

Harry raised a single eyebrow. That sounded _personal_, but Seto clearly hadn't ever met this kid. Or if he did, he didn't remember. Around him, Harry was aware of hanging jaws and nervous eyes.

"From now on, _I'll_ be calling the shots around here, and my first order of business is to put an end to your little _card game_," the boy said, being as disparaging as it was possible to be.

"You'll never get away with this you creep!" Mokuba objected.

"Too late for that," the boy answered smugly. "I already _have_."

"Look kid," Kaiba growled. "I demand to know your name."

"There you go again. Well fine. The name is Noah, and you and I go back quite a long way Seto," the boy, Noah, said.

Harry resisted the urge to sneer in disgust at the way this Noah kid flip-flopped between superior and sarcastically pandering in his tone.

"Enough of your foolish games!" Kaiba insisted.

"I'm afraid my _games_ have only just begun, _you fool_," Noah answered with a smirk, and then the transmission ended, the screen once again showing empty ocean and clear sky.

"What do you think he meant by that?" Mokuba asked, slightly worried.

"Doesn't matter," Harry cut in firmly. "Is the emergency override working?" he asked.

"No!" the pilot answered, frantic.

Harry nodded. "Everybody hold onto something," he commanded softly as he headed for the door. "This is going to be a bit bumpy."

"Shokunin!"

"Hiei-san!"

"Shokunin-san!"

Voices called after him as he left the bridge and headed for the approximate middle of the ship. He had an international appointment to keep, and Kaiba's tournament had a deadline. Harry didn't care what the kid wanted with Seto, he wasn't going to get his way – at least, not right now.

Harry released his magic – _his_, not the magic he had access to through the Shadow Realm, but his _own_ magic – in a great and slightly tangible bubble around the blimp. Once he was sure he had the whole thing, he visualised the image of the island that had been their original target. He didn't think much of Seto's power-tripping and the psychological ramifications of proving himself in such a place, but it was their target, so that was where they were going.

Of course, side-along apparating an entire blimp, everything and everybody on board, and _not_ totally frying all (or indeed, _any_) of the highly advanced tech at the same time was hard. Very hard. When everybody had recovered from the sensation, and the fastest to do so had reached him, Harry was laid out on the floor, pale, shaking, covered in a cold sweat and barely conscious. He'd known that he would be laid out (his reserves were big, not infinite) but he'd expected to be _passed out_. Being still awake _hurt_.

"What the heck did you do?" Jounouchi demanded, as he and everybody else rushed up behind him.

"And do you promise _never_ to do it again?" Honda added.

"Back _off_ you guys!" Ryou insisted in his soft voice, though the tone was firm and implacable. It was like a velvet-covered brick wall. "Can't you see he's in no condition to answer you?" he continued, even as he knelt beside Harry and pulled the dark head into his lap.

"Apparition," Harry croaked out softly. "The action of transporting a person, possibly with a passenger, from one location to another by magic. And I promise," he added, a cheerful smile on his ill-looking face. "I don't think I _can_ do it again. Not without a lot of rest and some solid meals in me first."

"You'll be getting them," Ryou insisted firmly. "If I have to chain you to the bed myself."

"Kinky," Harry said softly, his smile brightening even as his voice grew weaker.

"This is _no_ time for jokes!" Ryou insisted. "Your health is at stake!"

"Thief King, can you -?" Harry got out before his green eyes glassed over.

Magical exhaustion was a funny thing, and that is because magic is attached to the soul. It had an affect on the body, of course it did, especially spells that were designed specifically to do so, but Harry had the ultimate counter-measure for when he was stupid enough to magically exhaust himself.

He could give his body over to the Thief King. He could retreat to his soul room, resting there and recover his strength while Bakura could keep his life on track. Whether that be going to class for him, looking over business deals, or competing in a Duel Monsters Tournament and reassuring all concerned parties that he'd be just _fine_, as well as explaining what was happening.

"Thank you Ryou," Bakura said through Harry's mouth, though the voice issuing from those lips was different. Green eyes cleared and darkened, the rest of his features sharpened, and he sat up, apparently miraculously recovered as the pallor left and the shaking ceased. "Your lap is very comfortable. Though I agree with the Landlord. Chains?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the teen his host had recently taken to kissing.

Ryou blushed. "You're the spirit of the Ring, aren't you?" he countered, avoiding the question entirely. "Hiei-san told me about you. Your name is Bakura."

Bakura nodded. "That's right," he said, permitting the re-direction. "I'll be taking over the body until the Landlord has rested enough to recover from his magical exhaustion," he explained.

"What?" Jounouchi asked, confused.

"Spirit of the Ring? Like the spirit in Yugi's puzzle?" Honda asked.

"You're name is Bakura too?" Anzu added, having heard that part, though it seemed the boys had missed it.

Bakura pointed to Honda. "Yes, but not as sniffy. I was a thief, the _best_ thief, but that's still a long way from a Pharaoh," he said. Then he moved his finger to point at Anzu. "Yes. My name is Bakura. You may call me that or Shokunin if you would find that easier." Bakura then drifted his finger across the gathered crowd until it found Seto. "And before _you_ ask," he said. "_Yes_, I will be able to compete in your tournament in the Landlord's place. I'm the one who taught him the game back when it first came out. He may have surpassed me since, but I assure you that I am no slouch either. Not that it matters, as he can still communicate with me in our shared mind as to what move to make as we Duel."

Seto nodded in silent satisfaction at this answer.

"Hey, you didn't answer _me_!" Jounouchi pointed out.

Bakura blinked green eyes and lowered his finger. "You only asked, and I quote: 'what?' That rather leaves it open to interpretation and could lead to a very lengthy explanation. Exactly _what_ were you referring to?"

"The bit about _magical_ _exhaustion_," Jounouchi clarified, hands on his hips as he bent over the still-sitting Bakura.

"The Landlord exhausted his internal magical core, which is attached to his soul, by using said magic to transport _the entire blimp_ from where we were to here. That's hard on its own. Doing it in such a way that it _doesn't_ totally destroy everything that utilises an electrical current in order to work is several orders of magnitude more difficult," Bakura explained. "It will be much easier for the Landlord to take everybody back to Domino one at a time, but when he's rested, so _after_ this is over. Or to transport you all through the Shadow Realm, as that's just a matter of opening a portal here, then there. I don't know why he didn't just do _that_, rather than exhausting himself like this."

No one could think of any kind of appropriate response to that, and so were silent as Ryou helped the Thief King up off the floor at last.

~oOo~


	19. Chapter 19

Bakura sat down in the seat/platform construct that the Duellists were required to occupy for this round. This four-way preliminary that would decide who Duelled against whom in the semi-finals.

Neither the spirit or Harry knew why Seto bothered with this. Everybody knew that he wanted to Duel Yugi first, and Harry and Bakura didn't care who they Duelled – because they would win no matter who they faced. Harry's Duelling tactics were _just_ _that good_. No, it wasn't arrogance, mostly anyway. Harry _was_ capable of being bested, but that generally happened when it was just a fun Duel with friends in the classroom and he wasn't too worried about whether he won or not, even if he was always competitive. Official Duels were different though.

"Take points in a clock-wise manner," Harry's voice whispered in their mind, and Bakura nodded in agreement. What did they care who they Duelled first after all?

"And lay traps liberally," Bakura added silently. He was rather _fond_ of traps after all, and they were so _useful_. The expressions on opponents faces when the trap was sprung were always entertaining as well.

And he'd be Duelling with his _own_ deck. Not any of Harry's. He didn't get to Duel much any more, against people who weren't Harry anyway. He was going to _enjoy_ this, even with the Landlord back-seat Duelling a little. After all, he was never pushy, Harry _was_ the better Duellist between them now, and Bakura had gotten over his ego-tripping somewhere between being charged with pseudo-parenthood and the first time Harry had defeated him in Duel Monsters.

Well, Seto got what he wanted. Mostly because Harry _also_ really wanted to sort out Mad Max – and the Thief King was _more_ than happy to oblige his exhausted host. So what if he was _blatantly_ rigging his own position? Everybody else was trying to as well, they were just not having as much success as the Thief King was.

"I'd say that we've done this before," Bakura commented as he walked around the arena at the top of the tower. "But that was Marik against my host. This time it's you against me," he said with a slightly sinister smile. "How appropriate."

"Indeed," the other agreed with a sneer.

"You lose, Marik gets control of his body back," Bakura said calmly.

"I win, I get all your Millennium Items, the Winged Dragon of Ra, and you get sent to the Shadow Realm!" was the counter-offer.

"You have a Shadow Game," Bakura agreed.

Mad Max's deck was best described as a 'torture' deck, and he was very good at using it. The problem, however, was that torture took _time_. Against the Thief King – or more to the point, against _Harry_ – opponents weren't _given_ time. Opponents were swiftly and decisively _dealt_ _with_ when Harry Duelled, and while that wasn't really Bakura's style, he had to admit that it _worked_.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Bakura informed the collapsed form of the blonde Egyptian. "I don't really like or care about you at all. I just have this thing against self-important, self-righteous _psychos_ bent on world domination. Or throne fetishists."

"How the hell do you put up with Kaiba then?" Jounouchi asked from where he and everybody else had been watching the Duel.

"He's not a psycho and he only wants to dominate the world of Duel Monsters," Bakura answered with a shrug. "Great as the game is, it's mostly just a game these days. Besides, it's not _me_ who puts up with him most of the time."

The Duel between Seto and Yugi was interesting, just as the Duels between them in the past had been. What was _really _interesting was when Obelisk the Tormentor was pitted against Slifer the Sky Dragon. Really, showing off much? Bakura couldn't help but scoff just a little bit at the two teens his host shared day-time classes with. They really were a bit ridiculous in how competitive they were, especially since he and his landlord were rather sure that it was a cover. Yugi had feelings for Seto, Seto had feelings for Yugi, the Pharaoh was a wild-card that just confused the whole thing, and no one _said_ anything because Yugi was too shy, Seto too proud, and again the Pharaoh was a wild-card that confused the whole thing.

Really, the whole thing felt like a re-hashing of Duellist Kingdom. The results were the same in any event, and left Bakura – and Harry by consequence – in possession of the three Egyptian god cards, not that he particularly cared. Still, if he got _very_ bored (or unaccountably desperate) with his business over in England, then he _might_ use them then. It could be amusing at least. Possibly.

~oOo~

Harry stood on English soil for the first time in almost six years and looked around.

"And you want me to _save_ these people?" he asked the dour man who had travelled with him, his tone mildly incredulous.

Severus Snape nodded, though he didn't seem all that pleased either.

"For _free_?" Harry questioned again.

Snape shrugged uncomfortably.

Harry sighed. "Right, I'll just empty Dumbledore's account while I'm here then as payment," he decided with a wave of his hand, dismissing the man with the same gesture.

It didn't take all that long, with help from the Ring and a little bit of Shadow Magic, to find all of the horcruxes that were anchoring Voldemort to this world. Especially since Sirius had already made a _very_ good beginning and found _three_ – on his own and having to work around Dumbledore actually trying to _stop_ him – before the old coot had even shown up in Domino. A simple extraction ritual, then the pieces were fed to a morphing jar summoned from the Shadow Realm, which the Thief King found immensely satisfying. He _had_ only been wanting to do that since Harry was an infant and he'd realised the horrid magic the creep had used to tether himself to this plane.

The most interesting of the trinkets that the madman had used Harry kept, the others were left in Sirius' care, if he wanted them. Really, what use did he have for a tacky necklace or a golden mug? None. The Resurrection Stone was quite the keepsake however. Very nice. Besides, it filled out the set, since he already had the Invisibility Cloak and the Elder Wand – the former from his vault prior to his leaving England, and the latter from when the Thief King had... _concluded his business_ with the crazy old man.

Of course, Harry couldn't _leave_ until he'd dealt with the self-important murderer who had created the anchors in the first place. Should probably have a proper visit with his godfather as well, since he was in the country and all, rather than just stopping by about the anchors the man had found.

As Harry stood before Voldemort, he couldn't help but wonder just what was so terrifying about the man. Okay, he was ugly, but being ugly didn't automatically make people scary. Maybe it was just conditioning. Yeah, that _had_ to be it. Or maybe it was that Harry was the only magical person currently in the country who had gotten any sort of education _outside of it_ apart from this malformed person. The British education was, for magical people, depressingly poor.

Then the git started posturing and flicked Harry's "overkill switch". Just like Para and Dox had, just like Peggy had – though Marik and Mad Max hadn't. They hadn't postured _quite_ enough to warrant that reaction from Harry. They were self-important and stupid, but they hadn't _postured_ at him immediately before a Duel. Much.

Conveniently, Harry had an utterly suitable Duel Monster. Not Slifer the Sky Dragon, not Obelisk the Tormentor, not the Winged Dragon of Ra – though he had all three. Not Exodia, not the Blue Eyes or the Red Eyes or the Yellow Eyes. No, cute little Kuribo would be enough to get rid of _this_ posturing pustule. It _was_ overkill as well. Harry could have just shot him, since guns and bullets were _very_ convenient things that were readily available to anybody – especially to anybody who cared to make a pit-stop in Russia on their way through.

Not that he _had_. Of course not! Well... maybe he had... He was sure his godfather wouldn't mind sharing a bottle of vodka with him later...

As for the bits that got left behind, well, the Thief King's Man-Eater Bug hadn't been fed for a while. For the record, any Death Eaters still hanging about counted as 'bits that got left behind'.

In the words of the Thief King: "Modern day humans are so much fun to torment."

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin had both been mildly unnerved to hear that comment, but they'd stuck with the boy anyway, even helped him master the animagus transformation that he'd been having trouble with. They couldn't understand why Harry was a _cat_ of all things, but they'd given him a "Marauder Nickname" to go with it all the same: Garfield, in honour of the muggle comic that they were both fond of since Lily had introduced them to it. Never mind that Harry wasn't a _ginger_ cat, and certainly not a _fat_ one, he was now stuck with Garfield regardless. Like he was going to tell anybody back home in Domino that nickname though.

~oOo~

Harry was home, in Domino, in time for his sixteenth birthday and the new school year to begin. It seemed that, in his absence, Seto and Mokuba had gotten together with Ryou to plan him a little celebration. Nothing too grand. Harry was, after all, a very rich person who generally liked to live quietly. This also cut down on the present front. Seto claimed that it should be gift enough that he was bothering to participate in something so plebeian as a birthday celebration – Harry assured him, with a laugh, that it was. Mokuba gave Harry a picture that he'd drawn, and like the image on the Yellow Eyes Grey Dragon card, Harry admired and praised the boy's artistic skill liberally.

Ryou gave him a kiss.

"That," the white-haired boy said when they finally broke apart, "is the _first_ part of your birthday present." Then he lowered his voice and whispered in Harry's ear. "You can _unwrap_ the rest later."

Harry ginned, happily pulling Ryou into his lap.

It was a fantastic birthday party. Not even the news of all the things he'd missed while he was on the other side of the world could ruin it for the green-eyed teen. Really, the mischief that the friendship squad got up to when he wasn't there to keep an eye on things! On the other hand, he was a little disappointed to have missed the Duel between Yugi and the Pharaoh. It sounded like it would have been an impressive thing to watch.

It was a bit interesting, later in the evening, when Ryou finally _did_ touch the Ring – which Harry had promised he could once the England business was done. There was a bright light, and then the Thief King was standing there, translucent but definitely _there_, and visible to Ryou's sight as well if the way he was staring was anything to go by.

A golden scale appeared, also translucent, and held in the hands of a being that could _only_ be Anubis, with obviously Osiris beside him placing a white feather on one side of the scale.

"BaKuRa of Kul Elna," Osiris intoned gravely. "The time has come for your judgement."

Bakura visibly steeled himself. "I am ready," he answered, his voice as steady as he could make it.

With a gesture from Anubis, Bakura's heart came out of his spectral chest in a flash of light, landing on the still empty side of the scale. It dipped. It sank. It fell low on its side of the scale and was watched by the gods, boys and spirit attentively. Then it began to rise again. Upwards and upwards until the side of the scale with the feather on was dipped low. A breath of a moment later, and the scales were balanced perfectly.

Anubis grinned – not a pretty sight, with all those sharp teeth of his.

"Very good," Osiris declared with an indifferent sniff. "Come now, the afterlife awaits you."

"Goodbye," Harry called as the gods, the scale, and spirit began to fade away. "Thief King."

"Live well," the Thief King answered softly. "My friend."

"I'm sorry," Ryou said softly when they were gone, genuinely apologetic for apparently being the cause of Harry losing a friend who had been with him for all his life.

"Don't be," Harry answered, kissing Ryou softly. "He's been hanging around for thousands of years. He's finally earned his peace."

Ryou, tentatively, smiled in acceptance of this view.

"Now, I have a present to unwrap, don't I?" Harry teased, then pressed a kiss to Ryou's throat.

A laugh, and an appreciative moan were his answer as Ryou tugged Harry's shirt from his trousers.

~The End~

~Omake~

"Now, if only we could set Seto up with Yugi," Harry commented as he lay, nude beneath the sheets, with his arm wrapped around his equally naked boyfriend.

Ryou laughed, and kissed Harry's shoulder – the nearest part of him to Ryou's mouth.

"Just you wait until my dogfather finds out you've deflowered me," Harry growled playfully, rolling over so that he was above Ryou.

"We'll just have to set _him_ up with that werewolf friend you mentioned," Ryou countered. "Then he'll be too busy to do anything to me."

Harry laughed. "An excellent idea," he agreed, then bent down to kiss Ryou's smiling mouth.

~The End~


End file.
